A newborn baby girl was found abandoned in a bush and covered in ant bites in Tripura’s Sipahijala district, police said on Friday.

A police official said the baby is likely to be two days old and that they are investing the matter. She has been admitted to the intensive care unit of IGM Hospital in Agartala.

“No one has been arrested till now … Such an incident has not happened in Bishramganja in approximately the last three years,” officer-in-charge of Bishramganja Police station Pannalal Saha said.

A villager, Bodholokkhi Debbarma, spotted the baby covered in ant bites crying in the bush at Amarendranagar area under Bishramganja, 30 kilometres from Agartala, late on Thursday evening. She informed the nearby outpost who rescued the child and admitted to a local hospital.

Later, the infant was shifted to IGM Hospital in the state capital.

“Her condition is stable. Still, she is under observation of the doctors,” Bipul, a coordinator of Childline Agartala, said.

Doctors at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit said the baby is suffering from an infection and her face, including her eyes, was affected the most due to ant bites.

“The baby will be under observation till her improvement,” an on-duty staff of the unit said.

Thousands of newborn are abandoned in the country every year often shortly after birth, a problem attributed to the birth of an unwanted girl in a largely patriarchal society which puts greater value on boys.

First Published: Oct 26, 2018 17:12 IST