Abandoned newborn about to be mauled by dogs rescued in HRBR Layout

A male infant abandoned on the roadside just hours after its birth was rescued by passersby even as stray dogs were about to maul it.

Wrapped in a cloth layered under a plastic bag, the just-born was abandoned on a street behind the Golla Yadav Sangh building in HRBR Layout, East Bengaluru, on Independence Day. Passersby noticed some movement in the plastic just when a pack of dogs was nearing it. It was the infant’s relentless cries that drew them.

One of the passersby, Pramod, a resident of Subbayanapalya, looked into the bag and was horrified to see the infant soaked in blood. It was evident that the baby was born only hours earlier. He called the police.

Assistant sub-inspector Somashekar S and head constable Raju S, patrolling the streets on a Hoysala car, rushed to the spot.

By this time, Pramod had rescued the baby and was holding it in the bag. Police initially enquired with local residents but nobody seemed to have seen the person who had abandoned the baby.

The policemen took the baby to a private hospital where doctors examined it and determined that it was healthy. The baby was subsequently taken to the government-run Vanivilas Hospital, near KR Market, where it is presently under medical supervision, a senior police officer said.

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The officer surmised that the baby was abandoned by parents because they couldn’t afford to raise it or by its mother because it was born out of wedlock. Male babies are usually not abandoned.

“We feel sorry for the baby. It was sheer luck that it was saved from the dogs,” the officer said.

The police will inform the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), and based on its advice, give the infant in the care of a nonprofit that looks after orphaned children, the officer added.

This is the third case of a baby having been abandoned in recent weeks.

On June 23, a male infant with abnormal physical features was abandoned in a grove behind the fire station in HRBR Layout. The parents are yet to be traced.

On July 8, a newborn baby was abandoned on the doorstep of a security guard’s house in New NGEF Layout, Mallathahalli.