BHOPAL: A newborn girl, abandoned in a dustbin with her throat allegedly slit by her maternal grandmother in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district last month, has been saved through timely twin surgeries and round-the-clock medical care at a government hospital in Bhopal.
The infant, just a day old when she was found, suffered severe injuries to her neck muscles. A team of paediatric surgeons at Kamla Nehru Hospital in Bhopal performed two life-saving surgeries last month, followed by continuous medical supervision. The hospital staff, moved by her resilience, named her ‘Pihu.’
Dr Dhirendra Shrivastava, head of the paediatrics department at Kamla Nehru Hospital, said, “Though we’ve successfully treated abandoned newborns in the past, this case was particularly critical. The wounds weren’t superficial but very deep, causing damage to the neck muscles. Her cuts were sutured, and blood vessels repaired through two surgeries. Our entire team monitored her progress round the clock for a month.”
He added, “With no family coming forward to claim her, the doctors and nurses treated her as one of their own. They took complete responsibility for her treatment and well-being. How long could they address her as an unnamed child? So, they unanimously decided to name her Pihu.”
After her full recovery, Pihu has been handed over to a children’s shelter home in Rajgarh district, where efforts will be made to ensure her safety and a better future.
Bhagwat Prasad Soni, head of the child care home associated with the state women and child development department, recalled the harrowing night of January 11.
“Our team, along with the local police, rushed the newborn—profusely bleeding from the neck—to the hospital in Bhopal, about 100 km away. She is just a month old but a real fighter. The cut wounds in her throat and some injuries on her abdomen were life-threatening. Our doctors regularly visited the hospital to check on her. Now, with her wounds nearly healed, she has joined three other abandoned children, aged between three and five years, in our care,” Soni said.
Akhilesh Verma, in charge of Pachore police station in Rajgarh district, recounted, “The newborn was found abandoned on January 11 with her throat slit. This is a miraculous escape, given the severity of her wounds. Primary investigations revealed that her maternal grandmother slit her throat with her mother’s agreement. Both were arrested on January 12 and are currently out on bail. We are relieved that the girl is now out of danger.”
Sources close to the police investigation revealed that the infant was the result of an illicit relationship between her 25-year-old mother and a man from Uttar Pradesh. “We are searching for that man, as he has also been named as an accused in the case,” the source said.
Madhya Pradesh has recorded the highest number of abandoned babies in the country over the past four years. According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) Crime in India report for 2022, the state reported 175 cases of newborns being abandoned or thrown away that year—21 per cent of the 831 such cases recorded across India.