Lucknow shocker: Newborn's decomposed body discovered under trash; probe launched

Lucknow: A newborn baby's decomposed body was discovered thrown beneath a trash trench next to a drain, hidden behind the Sahara Club's boundary wall, in the Jankipuram neighbourhood of Lucknow.

The incident came to light after a security guard at Sahara Club noticed a bad smell in the area. He used a stick to remove some trash, only to discover a body hidden behind it. The baby was either stillborn or appeared to have died after being put there, according to the police.

The gender of the body, however, could not be determined because of how decomposed it was; it appeared to be three to five days old. The gender and the precise cause of death will now be determined through post-mortem examination.

As per the police, investigations are being conducted to find out who threw the baby at the scene.

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"We are scanning the area for clues about the person who threw the body," said SHO Jankipuram Brajesh Tripathi.

This is the sixth instance of a newborn being discovered abandoned in a city in the past two weeks. Prior to this, on November 14 and November 20, respectively, two newborn girls were discovered alive and abandoned and were then saved by Childline workers.  The three bodies that were discovered earlier were likewise girls' bodies.

As per the experts, parents from economically disadvantaged sectors frequently abandon girls in favour of raising boys. This has been prevalent for ages and despite educating the crowd, people still consider a girl child to be a burden and a liability to the family. In India, incidents like these are fairly common, as newborn girls are either killed or abandoned.

(With inputs from: IANS)