Newborn's Body With Hospital Tag Attached Found Stuffed Inside Plastic Bag

In a disturbing incident, the body of a newborn baby was found stuffed inside a plastic bag in a pile of garbage Monday.

Local residents alerted police after they spotted stray dogs gathering around the area and sniffing a bag. The incident was reported from the Indian state of Assam.

Officers, who arrived at the spot, said the infant's body was tightly wrapped in a cloth, reported Assam Tribune. They also found a tag bearing the name of a local hospital on the baby's body. The hospital was just feet away from the area where the body was found.

The officers believe the infant was born there and was abandoned by the parents after they got discharged. It was not known if the child was already dead at the time.

Police moved the body to the hospital for further examination. They were asked to take stock of all the babies born at the facility in the last few days.

The incident baffled police and the public alike as the street where the body was found was a busy one, lined by drug stores and eateries that work 24 hours. According to the police, it is not easy to abandon a child in the area, which is so densely populated.

Post the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown in India, there is a spurt in cases involving newborn babies abandoned in public places. "With everything shut down, it was possibly more difficult to abort and easier to give birth and abandon the babies," Meera Bharati, co-founder of the nonprofit Where Are India's Children, told National Herald.

Last week, another case was registered in India wherein a newborn was found murdered and hanged inside a hospital bathroom. The body was discovered by one of the hospital staff, who subsequently alerted the police. However, it was soon found that the child was not born at the hospital as the umbilical cord was still attached. Two women, suspected to have carried out the crime, were captured on CCTV.