Gujarat: 11-Year-Old Rape Victim Gives Birth To Child With Paralysis, Struggling To Survive

An 11-year-old rape victim gave birth to a baby girl in a hospital in Ahmedabad’s Asarwa. Police say that the girl was repeatedly raped by six people over the last eight or nine months, reports The Indian Express.

The baby born of the heinous crime is right now being looked after by Constable Sona Ranjit and Constable Sejal Parmar in the hospital. “Look at how pretty she is, all pink and beautiful. I have been in tears after doctors told us about her abnormality,” says Parmar, 22, from the Mahila Police Station in Rajkot, where the baby’s mother hails from.

What happens to the baby now?

Given the fact that the baby’s mother is herself a child, the fate of the newborn is yet to be decided. The baby was born on March 17, and the doctors found that she has spina bifida. This means that her spine and spinal cord failed to develop properly hence, she is going to paralysed for life.

“The baby was brought to the civil hospital on the night of March 17. It’s a critical case. We are running a few tests, including an MRI, to see how much damage has happened. Her legs are already paralysed,” says Dr Rakesh Joshi, who heads the Department of Paediatric Surgery, reported The Indian Express.

“In consultation with the neurosurgery department, we will decide if we should operate on the baby or not. The surgery might ensure that she stays alive but she will lead a tough life as she will be paralysed and there might be other complications,” says Joshi.

A committee has been formed in the hospital which will decide the fate of the baby, that is, whether surgery would be done or not.

The five accused have been arrested. One other is a minor, hence is in a juvenile correctional home.

Family’s response

“We don’t want the baby because my granddaughter is a child. My daughter just called me to say my granddaughter is in pain because of the stitches on her stomach. If we accept the child, it will ruin my granddaughter’s life,” her grandmother says.

“My granddaughter used to stay with me all the time as my house is just a five-minute walk from hers. My son-in-law is mentally ill, my daughter works as a domestic help and runs the family. What have we done to deserve this fate?” she laments.