Kid abandoned in grove because of abnormal physical features

A physically abnormal infant abandoned by its parents in a grove in eastern Bengaluru's HRBR Layout was rescued just in time by authorities.

The baby boy, aged about one year and a half, is said to have been abandoned for only 30 minutes when a passerby saw him and called the police around 3.45 pm on June 23. The passerby was walking through the grove on the way to his makeshift home when he came across the infant.

Raju S, a Banaswadi police constable patrolling a nearby street at the time, rushed to the spot after receiving a message from the control room. What he saw there stunned him. The infant was struggling to crawl because of its abnormal growth and would respond to no one. The constable arranged an ambulance and rushed the boy to a hospital. Doctors attended to him and said he was out of danger. Doctors told the police that the parents may have abandoned the infant because of its abnormality. The infant seems to be from a middle-class family as he was wearing good clothes as well as a diaper.

A senior officer from the Banaswadi police station regretted the abandonment of the infant, saying the parents could have easily left it in the care of a non-governmental organisation.

Police efforts to trace the infant's parents didn't bear fruit. They have circulated his photograph among patrolmen and local residents. They have also alerted the Women and Child Development Department and the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) but they are yet to see the infant and arrange for its accommodation at an NGO.

About 30-40 babies are abandoned in Bengaluru every year, police data shows. Most of these babies are born out of illicit relationships or are girls. Police have registered a case under IPC section 317 (exposure and abandonment of a child under 12 years by a parent or person having care of it). The offence is punishable with seven years' imprisonment, fine or both.