A newborn male baby was founded abandoned in a garbage container near Gandhipuram on Monday night. The authorities managed to find its mother, but the 22- year-old woman refused to take the child back, citing abject poverty.
Emotions ran high when officials from the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) and Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) attempted to reunite the abandoned baby with his mother, but they were stunned when the woman refused to take the child back, saying that she will not be able to support him due to the “acute financial crisis that was haunting” her.
It all began when members of the general public complained to the police after hearing the cries of a baby coming out of a garbage can near Gandhipuram on Monday night. They informed the police who later handed over the baby to the CMCH.
While treating the baby, officials from the CMCH had identified the baby as delivered by Shona (name changed), a daily wager from the outskirts of Coimbatore, on Sunday. When they checked with the address that Shona had given them at the time of admission, they found that the baby indeed belonged to her.
According to police, Shona initially claimed that she had asked a stranger to look after her baby while she went to relive herself, and found the baby missing when she returned. However, on further investigations, Shona confessed that she had deliberately left the child inside the garbage container because she could not support it financially.
She initially agreed to take her baby back, but soon changed her mind. All attempts made by the officials were in vain. She alleged that her husband had abandoned her six months ago, when she was pregnant with this baby, and her elder son. With one more child, she confessed that she was not in a position to support it.
The child was later handed over to the DCPU by the CMCH officials and it is now under the care of a child adoption agency in the district. The child weighs just above 2 kilos, and is in good health.
Shona later told the officials that she wanted to leave the baby with someone who can take care of it. She was in tears when she handed over the baby.
Emotions ran high when officials from the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) and Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) attempted to reunite the abandoned baby with his mother, but they were stunned when the woman refused to take the child back, saying that she will not be able to support him due to the “acute financial crisis that was haunting” her.
It all began when members of the general public complained to the police after hearing the cries of a baby coming out of a garbage can near Gandhipuram on Monday night. They informed the police who later handed over the baby to the CMCH.
While treating the baby, officials from the CMCH had identified the baby as delivered by Shona (name changed), a daily wager from the outskirts of Coimbatore, on Sunday. When they checked with the address that Shona had given them at the time of admission, they found that the baby indeed belonged to her.
According to police, Shona initially claimed that she had asked a stranger to look after her baby while she went to relive herself, and found the baby missing when she returned. However, on further investigations, Shona confessed that she had deliberately left the child inside the garbage container because she could not support it financially.
She initially agreed to take her baby back, but soon changed her mind. All attempts made by the officials were in vain. She alleged that her husband had abandoned her six months ago, when she was pregnant with this baby, and her elder son. With one more child, she confessed that she was not in a position to support it.
The child was later handed over to the DCPU by the CMCH officials and it is now under the care of a child adoption agency in the district. The child weighs just above 2 kilos, and is in good health.
Shona later told the officials that she wanted to leave the baby with someone who can take care of it. She was in tears when she handed over the baby.