Abandoned at birth in Kashmir
In absence of staterun homes, hospitals take the responsibility of caring for abandoned newborns
SRINAGAR: Residents of a Nowhatta street in Srinagar’s old quarters woke up to a disturbing sight on March 2 — the naked body of an abandoned newborn boy, ghostly pale from the overnight rain bearing down on him.
In a society that celebrates births with rites of welcome and blessings, the lifeless infant in the middle of the road pricked the conscience of Kashmiris.
Somebody took pictures of the child and those were shared quickly and widely, with comments expressing shock, sorrow and anger and calling for punishment to the parents, however desperate they may be to desert the baby.
“Lost for words and shocked! ...Where are we heading as humans and as a society? How will our prayers bear fruit when such become our deeds! Where have we buried our conscience?” Kashmir’s chief cleric and separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq tweeted.
This is not a knee-jerk reaction to a stray case, but a reflection of people’s anger and pain over at least seven reported instances of newborns being dumped at hospitals, shrines and on roads in Kashmir Valley since January this year.
According to local media, two of these infants were dead.
These abandonments are not restricted to urban areas with a large population. In February, a newborn was dumped in a corner of a remote village in Pulwama.
Authorities at Srinagar’s GB Pant hospital — the lone paediatric care institution in Kashmir — said the government-funded facility has taken care of at least 16 abandoned babies since 2014.
“These were either left in the hospital’s wards or staircases and, in some cases, outside shrines, following which police brought them here,” said Dr Kanwarjit Singh, the hospital’s medical superintendent.
An imam, Molvi Adnan, who runs an NGO, adopted three of these babies who faced trouble during adoption because of congenital ailments, Singh said.
Hospitals take the responsibility of caring for these babies in the absence of state-run homes built specifically for such children.
The staff at Srinagar’s Lal Ded hospital, the largest maternity care in the Valley, rescued a newborn wrapped in plastic and dumped in a garbage pit on a freezing night in January.
They were alerted by a commotion outside — a barking pack of stray dogs and an infant’s haunting wails. The dogs had almost disfigured the baby’s face by the time the staff reached and brought the child to the hospital. The infant recovered and was adopted eventually.
Authorities at Lal Ded hospital said at least five abandoned babies — four girls and a boy — were rehabilitated in the past year. People adopted three of them; the other two are being cared for at the hospital.
“Mostly girls are deserted and people suspect the abandoned boy might have been born to an unwed mother,” said Dr Shabir Sediqui, the hospital’s medical superintendent.
Doctors and social observers refused to call these instances of people abandoning newborns a growing trend in Kashmir, saying giving such a tag would be alarmist.
According to them, these occurrences are getting amplified now because of social media.
“These are small numbers and there were instances in the past as well. The issue is being blown out of proportion,” Sediqui said.
Dr Salim Khan, who heads the department of community health at the government medical college (GMC) in Srinagar, gave three reasons why babies are abandoned “those born out of wedlock, girls born in families that have other girl children, and babies who have congenital diseases”.
It’s not an “alarming trend”, he said, but “a cause of concern and indicative of issues in society”. Social experts are of the view that the abandonments are a result of unwed mothers facing intense social stigma, and parents unable to look after their child because of mental or physical illnesses.
Besides, many poor families simply consider daughters a burden as they have to be married off with expensive gifts as dowry, the experts say.
According to the 2011 Census, the state’s sex ratio is among the most skewed in the country at 889 women for 1,000 men. And the sex ratio for children below six years dips further to 862 girls per 1,000 boys.
The data raises fears about female foeticide and infanticide, although statistics on the number of babies killed or abandoned at birth are obscure. “Society should take care of its moral fabric and make weddings easier. We should be very concerned about extravagant weddings,” Khan of GMC, Srinagar, said.
According to Khurshid ul Islam, a sociologist and an associate professor at the Institute of Management, Public Administration and Rural Development in Srinagar, newborns are abandoned in Kashmir because of two reasons: poverty and weakening moral values.
“Today, it is difficult to raise a child owing to increased needs. And when a girl is born, a father thinks about her marriage from day one. We have become extravagant in our weddings and social evils are percolating,” he said.
“We have become more materialistic and less spiritual.”
Several abandoned babies are rescued in Kashmir, but the government has no infrastructure or budget to take care of these children.
“In some cases, the hospital staff managed the expenses of these babies out of their own pocket till their adoption,” Sediqui of Lal Ded hospital said.
The Jammu and Kashmir high court asked the government on January 31 to devise a plan for the care and rehabilitation of abandoned children.
Sajad Khan, secretary at the social welfare department, said abandoned babies would need a home and ayahs, or nurses, for their care but there’s no such provision now. Also, the department doesn’t have data on deserted infants, he said. Should society try to solve this problem, or is it the state’s responsibility? The jury is divided.
“People should take these issues seriously as it’s a social problem primarily,” said Khan of GMC, Srinagar. Singh of GB Pant hospital believes society needs a mechanism for such cases till the government comes up with a policy.
These [babies] were either left in the [GB Pant] hospital’s wards or staircases and, in some cases, outside shrines, following which police brought them here
DR KANWARJIT SINGH, superintendent of GB Pant
When a girl is born, a father thinks about her marriage from day one. We have become extravagant in our weddings and social evils are percolating
KHURSHID UL ISLAM, sociologist