Shamsha Vali, a resident of Kotapadu village of Sirivella block of Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district, threw his stillborn baby into an irrigation canal after the people of his village allegedly refused to bury the body in the local graveyard, fearing that she might have contracted coronavirus, the police said.
Here are five components of the story:
- The incident happened at Chabolu village of Nandyal block in the district on Saturday.
- Vali took his pregnant wife Madar Bee to the Nandyal Government General Hospital for delivery on Friday evening. On Saturday morning, she gave birth to a stillborn baby girl. The grieving couple wanted to bury the body of the infant after returning to their village.
- Vali informed the police about contacting the village elders and requesting them to make arrangements for the burial. They allegedly refused to allow the body into the village fearing that she might have contracted the infection, since there were a number of Covid-19 cases in Nandyal Hospital.
- Having nowhere else to go, the man threw the infant in the Kurnool-Cuddapah Canal (KC Canal) at Chabolu village on his way back to the village. The police were informed by the locals when they saw a body floating in the canal.
- Based on the information written on the tag tied to the infant’s body, the police could identify the parents. They later convinced the villagers and got the body buried at the graveyard. “We have not booked any case as it was a stillborn baby,” the inspector said.
