A five-day-old baby girl is healing in a local hospital after being rescued from a gutter where she was left to die in Mumbai, India.
Her health was being examined by doctors at the Rajawadi hospital, who said she was “doing OK.”
Residents discovered the infant after a bunch of cats gathered beside the road and began hissing and purring loudly, according to police.
Officials are looking into how she got down the drain.
Although police have not speculated on probable motivations, previous abandonments have been attributed to India’s predilection for sons. Women are frequently socially discriminated against, and daughters are viewed as a financial burden, particularly in impoverished areas.
The gender divide in the country is one of the worst in the world. Although the majority of undesired female foetuses are terminated with the assistance of clandestine sex determination clinics, incidents of infant girls being murdered or abandoned after birth are not uncommon.
In the most recent incidence, the infant was rescued from a Mumbai suburb by a female-led police squad on Sunday.
When the cops came, they discovered the baby within the drain. They said the infant was howling in agony, clad in a thin shirt and saturated in sewage water.
She was then snatched up by two cops, covered in a towel, and sent to the hospital.
“When we brought the baby out, her arms had turned blue and she was chilling. To wipe the infant, we requested some warm water and a rag “Sheetal Sonawane, a police constable, said the Times of India newspaper.
The infant was “stable,” according to doctors at the Rajawadi hospital.
“Her health is being closely monitored by doctors. For the next three days, we’ll keep a close eye on her “The hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Vidya Thakur, told reporters.
On social media, the event caused a sensation. Officers cradled the child – covered in a white cloth – in their arms, according to a photo taken at the scene by Mumbai police.
In India, such events involving newborn girls are recorded on a regular basis.
A newborn infant was discovered alive in a clay pot in the town of Bareilly in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh two years ago.
In the winter of 2016, a newborn was discovered in Delhi, India’s capital, abandoned inside a plastic bag with no clothing.
In June, a boatman from Uttar Pradesh was commended for rescuing a baby girl who had been spotted floating on a wooden box in the Ganges river.
Activists claim that India’s disproportionate desire for sons has led in the abortion of millions of female foetuses over the last several decades.
Manmohan Singh, the former Prime Minister of India, labeled it a “national humiliation” and urged for a “crusade” to preserve female infants. Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a plea to Indians to stop murdering their daughters shortly after assuming office in the summer of 2014.
