Baby girl found near railway tracks in Siliguri, dies

The body of a newborn recovered was from nearby railway tracks in Siliguri on Wednesday morning.

Some local residents found the body, wrapped in a plastic bag, on the roadside and immediately called up GRP policemen. However, some unidentified person later took the baby to the hospital, where she was reported to be brought dead.

“The body of the baby girl was sent it to North Bengal Medical College, where she was reportedly declared brought death. The body has now been sent for post-mortem,” said a police officer.

“The baby girl might also have died in the hospital, but we have to investigate who brought the body outside the hospital. It may be any hospital staff or parents of the girl,” said the investigators. Meanwhile, the police discussed the incident with hospital authority.

Personnel from the local police and investigators of the Crime Investigation Department have recently unearthed several child trafficking rackets across the state.

Many people, including some doctors and health officials of private hospitals and nursing home, have been arrested in the subsequent crackdown.

It may be recalled that some local residents recovered the body of a newborn from a canal at Dum Dum a few months back. The residents had spotted the body near the canal and later called up police, who recovered the body and took it to the hospital. The hospital authorities declared that the baby to be lifeless. It was around a month old.

In the most recent event, ten babies were rescued from a charitable home for the mentally-disabled and the elderly at Behala. Skeletons of two children were also found at the premises of the office of the same charitable trust that runs the home.

This was only the second such raid after police recovered three new-born babies from a nursing home near Kolkata, which were supposed to be sold.

Meanwhile, the GRP at Siliguri believe that there may be a child trafficking racket operating alongside rail tracks. “There are many slums situated here. We are investigating whether there are any hideouts of child traffickers,” an officer said.