Bhopal/Jabalpur: On Thursday, subinspector Kavita Sahni got a call — a woman hanging from a rope, and her newborn dangling by his umbilical cord.
When the subinspector realized that the little one’s life hung by a thread, literally, she cleaned the infant, wrapped him up and kept him warm till medical help arrived.
According to the police, her husband Santosh told the police that they had no disagreement and both had gone to sleep around 9 pm on Wednesday. But when he woke up in the morning he didn’t find her. When he went out looking for her, he found her hanging in the cowshed.
The subinspector Kavitha told the TOI that “I got a call at 7.13am that a woman had committed suicide in town. I reached the spot quickly. While examining her body I found the baby trapped in Laxmi’s sari, dangling and still attached to the umbilical cord. He was alive. I called for immediate medical assistance. After a doctor cut the umbilical cord, we brought the mother’s body down for an autopsy.”
‘Baby has a good chance of survival’
The baby is now in the neonatal ICU of a government hospital and doctors say he has a good chance of survival.
“It’s an unfortunate incident, but at least we could save the baby. We are hopeful that he will survive. It’s a miracle that the baby survived after his mother’s death,” Kavita added.
Police are yet to find out why Laxmi killed herself. Her husband informed neighbours and a local corporator, who called the police control room.
Doctors of Katni say this is the first documentation of a woman delivering a baby during or after suicide.