Days after an infant was found buried facedown in a pit in Theni district, the body of another newborn was found dumped inside a ditch on R C Street in Sattur Town on Monday.
Around 7.30 am, a local resident spotted the body of an infant, said to be barely three-hours old, in the ditch. As news spread, many gathered at the spot and Village Administrative Officer Mohandas was alerted.
“We recovered the body and sent it for postmortem to the Sattur Government Hospital,” Mohandas said, adding that the infant could have been born out of an illegitimate relationship. A case has been registered with the police and efforts are on to trace the mother.
This is the second such incident reported in the southern districts over the past one week. On January 22, a newborn boy, who was found buried face-down in a dry canal in Ayyampettai village in Theni district, was rescued by the para-medical staff of the GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (108 ambulance) after villagers alerted them.
The baby has now been placed for adoption under the cradle baby scheme at the Theni GH.
A senior official, on condition of anonymity, said, “These two are not stray incidents as many such cases are being reported from rural areas in recent days.”
In the urban set up, girls who become pregnant due to illicit affairs opt for abortion, but rural women believe that the men with whom they were in love will marry them and don’t go for abortion in the early stages,” he said.
U Vasuki, secretary, All India Democratic Women’s Association, said,” These incidents only reveal the social crisis.