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A four-day-old baby was rescued after she was found buried alive in a cemetery in India.
The baby girl was found on 10 October by a couple who were burying their own child who’d died in hospital, People reports.
“When [the couple] began digging the ground, they immediately heard noises of crying,” said Abhinandan Singh, the superintendent of police for Bareilly district in northern India.
“As they dug up two or three feet [about a metre] of dirt, they found a baby girl who’d been buried in an earthen pot.”
A cemetery security guard notified police and she was taken to a nearby hospital where she’s being treated in the intensive care unit.
Abhinandan estimated the little girl had been buried for about six hours before being rescued.
A medical superintendent who oversaw her treatment said she has respiratory problems, as well as an infection and weighs just 1,5kg.
An investigation has been launched to find her parents who could be charged with attempted murder and abandoning a child, CNN reports.
Police believe the incident is a case of female infanticide – when parents deliberately kill newborn daughters.
According to The Guardian, female infanticide is on the rise in India, as parents want sons and not daughters because sons are “viewed as investments and heirs”, while daughters are seen as “liabilities”.
Sources: People, CNN, The Guardian
