Minor gang rape victim’s baby to be sent to orphanage

The girl was found unconscious a pavement in Khichripur in east Delhi on December 29. She was pregnant and delivered a pre-term baby two days later at the hospital.

The destitute minor girl, who was gang raped for months by a gang of snatchers, was discharged from the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital three days ago and taken to the child welfare committee.

The Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital where the gang rape victim was treated. Her baby girl is still recovering in the neo-natal unit of the hospital. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

The girl was found unconscious a pavement in Khichripur in east Delhi on December 29. She was pregnant and delivered a pre-term baby two days later at the hospital. Though she had been discharged, her 12-day-old baby is still in the hospital’s neo-natal intensive care unit.

In the next week, if the baby girl starts feeding properly and gains weight, she too will be discharged from the hospital and sent to an NGO-run orphanage, said hospital officials.

Read: What are the reasons for increasing rape cases in India?

The mother did not want to keep the baby and remained unattached after the delivery. “She did not ask to see the baby or hold it. She told the police that she did not want the baby and even tried to run away from the hospital twice, maybe because she thought that she would have to take care of the baby if she stayed,” said a doctor who was treating her.

A nursing staff from the hospital’s gynaecology department described her as “normal”.

“She was scared and traumatised, but she was not mentally ill. She would respond to all of us properly. She just did not like to talk about the rape or the baby,” she said.

The heavily pregnant teenager was brought to the hospital by a woman on December 29.

“She was having seizures and her blood pressure was very high. She was in semi-conscious condition. She was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) to stabilise her condition. During the physical examination, we realised she was 28 weeks or around seven months pregnant. But, she had no idea,” said the doctor who had conducted her medical examination.

Read: Homeless Delhi girl gangraped: How cops nabbed culprits with just a name as clue

She went into labour and delivered the baby at 6.05pm on December 31.

As the baby was pre-term and weighed only 1.2kgs (anything less than 2.5 kgs is underweight) she was admitted to the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) of the hospital. The baby will also be discharged once she gains weight to become at 1.8 kg.

Feed intolerance was the only complication the baby had from being pre-term.

“The baby cannot digest milk properly. We are slowly introducing it to her and she might start eating well in the next 5 or 6 days. This will also help her in gaining weight. She is on antibiotics to prevent any infection and has normal activity,” the baby’s doctor said.