Ten-month-old baby Vishal being taken care by a team of Child Development project officials at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital in Amritsar. (Express photo by Gurmeet Singh)

A ten-month-old baby, who was found abandoned near railway tracks after the train accident in Amritsar on Friday, was reunited with his mother late night Sunday. However, in a cruel play of fate, baby’s father was killed in the accident. Since the past three days, the baby was admitted at a hospital with multiple injuries to his skull. Initially, he was admitted at Civil Hospital where some onlookers had brought him for treatment. Later he was shifted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital.

Some photographs of the baby had gone viral on social media and it was assumed that both his parents had died. Many couples had also started approaching the administration and were willing to adopt the baby. However, on Sunday, the baby was identified as Vishal and his mother Radhika was found admitted at Amandeep Hospital where her condition is stated to be serious.

She had come to watch the mela with her husband Buddhi Ram, 40, who died in the accident. The couple’s daughter was also found undergoing treatment at Amandeep Hospital.

Fatefully the baby’s aunt (mother’s sister) Preeti was also admitted at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital since the past three days but she was unconscious and hence unaware of Vishal’s condition. Preeti’s husband Dinesh and son Abhishek, 9, were killed in the accident while she and her other son Aarush, 3, survived.

Rakesh, brother of Dinesh, told The Indian Express, “Our entire family was separated after the accident and admitted at different hospitals due to which we were unaware where was baby Vishal. Her mother Radhika was in a different hospital and we too have found her today. Her husband Buddhi Ram has died. He was the brother-in-law of my brother Dinesh who too has died. Dinesh’s son Abhishek has also died but his wife Preeti and another son Aarush have survived. So three persons have died in our extended family.”

He added that Radhika has been united with her baby but hasn’t been told yet about the death of her husband Buddhi Ram. “We cremated bodies of my brother Dinesh, his brother-in-law Buddhi Ram and my nephew Abhishek today. But Radhika hasn’t been told about her husband’s death yet,” said Rakesh.

Radhika and her family had come from Sangatpura of Uttar Pradesh to meet her sister Preeti and celebrate Dussehra in Amritsar. The couple’s three other daughters are back home in Uttar Pradesh, Rakesh said.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Chief judicial magistrate and head of the district legal services authority Amritsar said, “Since no one came to claim the baby in three days, it was being assumed that both his parents had died but we continued to search for them. Today her mother was found at Amandeep Hospital and the baby has been handed over to her.”

Dr Vipul Bhalla from paediatrics department, Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, said that the baby has multiple injuries to the skull but they can be taken care of without surgical treatment. “But there can be some complications later,” he said.

Manpreet Kaur, district child protection officer, said that many couples were already willing to adopt the baby but they couldn’t have allowed it officially. “Our staff took care of the baby in the hospital for three days. Many people had already approached us saying that they want to adopt it but it we did not allow it. Now he is with his mother.”