Poverty and prejudice force mother to abandon 8-day-old baby girl at railway platform

New Delhi: An eight-day-old girl was found abandoned at the Sarai Rohilla railway station and after police here traced her mother, they came to know that the mother was the one who had left her newborn at the platform.

On August 10, the girl was found abandoned on platform number 7 at Sarai Rohilla railway station.

"The baby was noticed by a passerby and the police were informed. Later after a search made by the team of SHO (Sarai Rohilla Railway Police Station), Krishan, police traced her family members," an official said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Railways) Harendra K Singh said that the daughter's mother is a homemaker and her father works in a shoe factory in Madipur. "On inquiry, it came to notice that the parents already had two daughters and this third baby was born on August 2. After the birth of the third girl child, the mother had become so mentally upset that she tried to harm herself too," he said.

Failing that, and with a disturbed mind, she left her home along with the baby and reached the railway station and left the baby on the platform thinking somebody would take the baby and raise her well. "She repented after counselling by the NGO and police. Family members were also called and after ensuring the safety, the baby was handed over to them," he said.

An investigator said that she also tried to cut her hand and was too depressed. "She thought that this time, she would be having a boy but it did not happen," an official said.

The woman herself has four sisters and one brother. Her husband did not know that she had gone to the railway

station to abandon the child. "Only her elder daughter had seen her leaving home," the official said.