A minor girl allegedly threw her baby out of a nursing home's washroom window minutes after giving birth there, leading to its death in West Bengal's Hooghly district on Saturday, police said.
The incident took place after the 16-year-old girl was brought to the nursing home of Uttarpara Municipality by her family members late Friday night after she complained of severe abdominal pain, a senior officer of Uttarpara police station said.
"Initial investigation revealed that the girl went to the washroom on Saturday morning after complaining of intensifying abdominal pain. She delivered a baby there without anybody's assistance," the officer said.
The newborn was found lying in a pool of blood by a passerby, who alerted the authorities. A nurse rushed to the spot to take the baby inside but found it dead, the police officer said, adding that the newborn was a girl.
The teenager's family members claimed that they did not know about her pregnancy, the officer said.
"The family members had brought her to the nursing home believing that she was suffering from nothing more than a bout of ordinary abdominal pain. We are verifying their claims," the officer said.
Nursing home owner Sucheta Mukherjee told reporters that the minor was admitted late on Friday night and underwent a blood test on Saturday morning.
"As her abdominal pain intensified on Saturday morning, she walked to the toilet on her own. She delivered the baby there without any assistance. She threw the newborn out through the window," Mukherjee said.
She further claimed that the nursing home staff had repeatedly asked the girl's family members about the possibility of her pregnancy at the time of admission, but they maintained that they knew nothing about it.
"We had no clue that our daughter was pregnant. We brought her to the nursing home after she complained of severe abdominal pain last evening. This morning, we received a call from the hospital and came to know about the incident," the girl's mother told reporters.
Police have taken cognisance of the incident and are examining all aspects of the case, the officer said.
"We are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings. We will examine the nursing home's CCTV footage and speak to the parents and other family members in this connection," he said, adding that a post-mortem is likely to be conducted on the dead newborn.
Meanwhile, locals claimed that this was not the first such incident reported at the nursing home.
"This is quite a frequent occurrence. A foetus had been recovered from the premises earlier as well," claimed Sankha Subhra Banerjee, a local.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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