Dog found carrying body of newborn in Karnataka
The body of a female newborn was found being dragged around by a dog near the maternity ward of a government hospital in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district on Saturday, officials said on Sunday.
The body of a female newborn was found being dragged around by a dog near the maternity ward of a government hospital in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district on Saturday, officials said on Sunday.
Security guards at McGann district hospital in Shivamogga said they chased away the dog after they noticed it was running around the hospital’s maternity ward carrying what appeared to be a newborn baby in its mouth at around 7am on Saturday, hospital officials said.
The child was already dead by the time it could be recovered, officials said, adding that they are examining whether the infant died before the dog bite or as a result of it.
The identity of the child’s parents remains unknown, and officials said they suspect that the infant was left at the back of the hospital’s maternity ward.
“While I was on duty, a patient alerted me that they saw an infant being carried around by a dog in the hospital. I immediately chased the dog, but the infant had already died,” said security guard Hanumanthappa, who recovered the body.
Officials added that as per initial examination of records, the infant was not delivered at the hospital. “The infant found was not delivered on the district hospital premises. Someone appears to have left the infant at the hospital premises,” said Dr Rajesh Surgehalli, Shivamogga district health officer.
He added that the body was sent for autopsy immediately after it was found. A police complaint has also been filed, Surgehalli said, adding that the exact time of the infant’s death will only be known after the autopsy.
Officials said that prima facie it appears that the infant was premature as the baby weighed just 900 grammes – as opposed to the average weight of a newborn, which is around 2.5kg.
Officials have kicked off an investigation to check all nearby private and government hospitals to verify records of 7-month-old pregnant women. The mother of the infant will be traced through the online records of pregnant women, officials said.
“We have registered a case under IPC section 318 against unknown persons at Doddapete police station,” said Doddapete police inspector Anjan Kumar. He added that they are verifying nearby CCTV footage to trace the person who abandoned the infant at the hospital premises.
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