Newborn Girl Found Buried Alive in India

A newborn baby girl has been discovered buried alive in northern India, a local police chief has revealed.

Abhinandan Singh told reporters a  couple, who went to bury their newborn at a grave after she died in hospital, discovered the youngster inside an earthen pot buried several feet deep,  in Bareilly city in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

The baby girl, who had been placed inside an earthen pot about 3ft (90cm) below the ground, was rushed to hospital, where she is recovering.

Police have now launched an investigation into the incident and looking for the child’s parents.

It  was  a suspected case of female infanticide,according to the police, the latest to highlight the preference for sons in a country where the number of girls has been declining.

Despite introducing laws to prevent female infanticide in  country,  where daughters can be seen as a financial burden,  India has seen a dwindling number of girls, according to a government survey released in July,

The survey report suggested that illegal abortions of female fetuses continue despite a ban and government efforts to save girl children.

It showed that India’s gender ratio, or the number of females per 1,000 males, was 896 in the period of 2015-17, down from 898 in 2014-16 and 900 in 2013-15.