India newborn abandoned in rubbish bin

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-30474700

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Police in the central Indian city of Bhopal say a newborn baby girl has been found abandoned in a rubbish bin.

The infant, who was discarded within hours of being born, was found with no clothes on and had been bitten by ants before she could be rescued.

She is in a critical condition in hospital and is undergoing treatment, police said.

The infant's mother, who has been traced, is unwell and being treated in another hospital, they added.

"We have registered a complaint and once the mother is better, we will interrogate her," senior police official in Bhopal Srinivas Verma told BBC Hindi.

The baby was found near Deepshikha school by Rajiv Patel who lives nearby and was alerted by the sound of her crying, reports BBC Hindi's S Niazi from Bhopal.

Earlier this month, police found the body of another infant who had been left in bushes in the city, our correspondent adds.

It is not clear what led to the baby in the latest case being abandoned, or whether the preference of many Indians for boys over girls could be a factor.

Female foeticide - the practice of aborting female foetuses - and infanticide have led to what campaigners say are of millions of "missing" girls in the country.

Such practices have led to a skewed sex ratio - according to the latest census figures released in 2011, there are only 914 girls for every 1,000 boys under the age of seven in India.

In Bhopal, according to the government's annual health survey, there are 916 girls for 1,000 boys.