160 babies on average abandoned in unsafe spaces in Maharashtra every year

MUMBAI: On an average, 160 babies are found abandoned in garbage bins and unsafe places in Maharashtra in a year. Between 2017 and 2021, a total of 798 newborns were found abandoned in the state, 55 of them in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, foeticide and infanticide cases of female babies in the state total 50, including 9 in Mumbai, and 35, with 2 in the city, respectively, during the period, states the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) report for 2021.

Police said infanticide of female newborns is more common in impoverished homes. There are higher instances of newborns being abandoned in rural areas due to poverty while in cities such as Mumbai abandonment is seen more in out-of-wedlock births.
These crimes are registered under the categories of infanticide, foeticide, and exposure and abandonment.
In November 2021, a baby girl was found in a nullah. "The baby was handed over to a Chembur-based NGO (Bal Anand World Children Welfare Trust) and named Pari," constable Sheetal Sonawane, who was part of the Nirbhaya squad at Pant Nagar police station, told TOI. Similarly, on December 23, 2021, Meghwadi police found a day-old baby boy by the roadside. "Normally, the police team tries to locate the parents and counsels them and tries to understand the reason for taking such an extreme step," said a Meghwadi police officer.
Samta Nagar police traced the mother of an infant found in an SRA building in Kandivli on October 27 in a critical condition. Police said she is a teenager (18) and the baby was a result of sexual assault. The teen was counselled and a Pocso case filed against the accused.
A police officer said, "Probe into cases of abandonment, foeticide and infanticide are given top priority." Trustee Raman Srinivasa of Vatsalya Trust in Kanjurmarg said, "We receive at least 30 such babies in a year. Our trust takes care of such kids and gives them an education so that they can stand on their feet."