Man held for raping 16-year-old daughter, throwing their baby in bushes in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone

Khargone: A man has been arrested for allegedly raping his 16-year-old daughter, impregnating her and abandoning their newborn baby in the bushes in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone district, police said on Saturday.

The matter came to light earlier this week when a day-old infant covered in ant bites was found in the bushes in a village under Maheshwar police station limits, area police station house officer (SHO) Jagdish Goyal told reporters.

He said the infant received first aid at a local hospital before being shifted to the district hospital, and a case was registered against an unidentified person under section 93 (abandonment of child under twelve years) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Superintendent of Police Dharamraj Meena said a probe revealed the baby's mother was a 16-year-old girl, who was admitted to a clinic.

The teen told the police that her father had raped her while they were working as labourers in Rajkot, Gujarat, and she got pregnant. The accused allegedly conducted her delivery at home, and when she became unconscious, threw the infant in the bushes before fleeing, the SP said.

He said the police on Friday arrested the accused under relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The DNA samples of the baby, the survivor and the accused have been sent for testing, he added.

The infant, initially treated in Khargone, was shifted to MTH Hospital in Indore and is currently on ventilator support, said Dr Pawan Patidar, head of the special newborn care unit.