India: After rescuing a newborn girl discovered floating in a wooden box on the Ganges river, a boatman in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state has been lauded.
Gullu Chaudhary claimed he was awakened by the 21-day-screams old’s and saw her wrapped in a crimson scarf in a box adorned with Hindu deities.
The infant was transported to the hospital and her condition is being closely watched. Later, she’ll be taken to a shelter.
Officials are looking into how the infant got into the river.
They haven’t commented on potential reasons for the desertion, although India has one of the world’s poorest gender ratios. Women are often socially discriminated against, and daughters are seen as a financial burden, especially in impoverished areas.
Despite the fact that the majority of undesirable female fetuses are terminated with the assistance of clandestine sex determination clinics, instances of newborn girls being murdered or abandoned after birth are not uncommon.
According to police, the package included a birth horoscope card with the time and day of the baby’s birth, as well as her name, Ganga, which is the Hindi word for the Ganges river.
The state government has said that it would cover the expenses of the baby’s upkeep. For setting an “unparalleled example of compassion,” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stated that the boatman will be awarded government privileges, including a home.
Authorities in the Ghazipur area, where the infant was rescued, informed reporters that District Magistrate MP Singh had checked on him and that officials had also been sent to speak with the boatman.
When onlookers on the river bank heard the newborn girl’s screams, no one came forward to aid, Mr. Chaudhary told local media. But I rushed to rescue her. When I opened the wooden box, I found her.”
As a result of the event, a throng formed around the river’s banks. The boatman was shown scooping up the box from the sea and holding the baby in his arms in videos taken at the site.
He then brought the infant to his home, where she was picked up by police and sent to the hospital by child welfare authorities.
