An eight-day-old baby girl lies abandoned in a hospital as two couples stake their claim over a boy born on the same night, prompting the Rajasthan high court and the State Commission for Women to take suo moto cognisance of the issue.
The girl, who was mistakenly exchanged with the boy by the hospital staff on March 25, has not been accepted by the couples and is currently under the supervision of the nursery unit of Ummed hospital in Jodhpur.
Taking suo moto cognisance, the Jodhpur Bench of the Rajasthan high court on Monday termed the matter as serious observing the country is already facing a skewed sex ratio.
The court ordered action to be initiated by the chief judicial Magistrate for providing protection to the girl child, including her right to be maintained by her parents.
It has sought a progress report from the CJM on April 20 and has appointed advocate Raj Lakshmi Choudhary as the girl's amicus curie.
The hospital has not allowed one of the mothers to breastfeed the infant in the absence of an undertaking that the infant belongs to them.
In Jaipur, Rajasthan Commission for Women chairperson Lad Kumari Jain expressed shock at "negligence" of the hospital administration.
"It is a very serious issue that a new-born girl has been left abandoned for the last eight days," Jain told PTI.
She has issued a notice to the hospital superintendent seeking his response in a week. "We will also probe whether the exchange of the new-born babies was pre-planned or it was only negligence," Jain said.
