Baby Kumaraswamy, who was found abandoned on Bengaluru’s outskirts on June 1, and got a shot at life after being rescued and nursed by the jurisdictional police, died recently after failing to respond to treatment.
A ragpicker had found the baby stuffed in a plastic bag and abandoned at a building under construction in Doddathoguru. The Electronics City police, who the ragpicker had alerted, brought the baby, covered in blood and the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, to the station.
The Hindu had first reported about the baby, who was named after the new Chief Minister, H.D. Kumaraswamy, by the police personnel, who called him “the government’s baby”.
Archana, a constable and mother to a three-month-old boy, breastfed the baby, bringing him back to life. Ms. Archana’s deed had earned praise from several quarters, including the Chief Minister.
The baby was later handed over to the Shishu Mandir, part of the State-run Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, for further care. However, he s said to have died on June 7 morning.
Asha Benakappa, Director, Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, said the child had not responded to treatment well and died of hypothermia and neo-natal sepsis — an infection of blood, and meningitis — a brain infection. “The newborn was abandoned in the cold, which led to several bacterial infections that the baby had no immunity to fight,” she said.
A pall of gloom surrounded the Electronics City police station, where the baby had had a rebirth of sorts.
R. Nagesh, assistant sub-inspector who brought the baby to the station, recounted that the baby was in bad shape. “We hoped he would survive. But sadly he did not,” he said.
Ms. Archana could not be contacted. Her colleagues said being a new mother, she was grief-stricken that the baby she nursed had died.
