Father digging grave for his premature daughter finds newborn girl alive three feet below ground in the same spot
A newborn baby girl was discovered buried alive in India by a villager who was burying his own daughter who had been born prematurely.
The incredible incident unfolded in Bareilly in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh when Hitesh Kumar Sirohi, a trader, was digging a grave for his daughter who died just minutes after being born prematurely. At a depth of three feet, hit an earthen pot, according to Gulf News.
When he pulled the pot out, there was an infant girl wrapped in a cloth inside, breathing heavily but miraculously still alive. He rescued her and fed her milk using cotton before taking her to a private hospital, where she is now recovering.
"At one point, I thought that my daughter had come alive," he said. "But the voice was actually coming from the pot. When the pot was opened, a baby girl was inside."
Doctors said the girl, like Sirohi's daughter, had been born prematurely and had probably been buried for two days before being unearthed. She weighed just 1.1 kilograms (2.42 pounds) and is being treated for a lung infection.
"A very inhuman incident came to light under the limits of Subhash Nagar police station in Maninath cremation ground in which a newborn girl was buried by unknown people inside an earthen pot," said Superintendent of Police Abhinandan Singh.
"The baby was found by members of a family who had gone to bury their daughter who died following premature birth," he continued. "After digging for a while, they found a pot and heard a baby crying. Soon, a police team reached the spot and the baby was sent to a hospital where she is undergoing treatment."
Hospital staff have named the infant Sita after a Hindu goddess who is believed to have been birthed by the earth.
The authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, and Singh has promised to bring those responsible to justice.
"We are trying to find the parents of the baby and we suspect that this must have happened with their consent," he told reporters. "We will take strict action against those who have buried the infant alive."