Rafiq Rafi :
Neonatal killing is on the rise in the country. Bodies of about 210 newborns have been recovered from dustbins, jungles and roads in the last six years across the country, including the capital, according to the Bangladesh Shisu Odhikar Forum.
In the last two months, 4 newborn bodies were recovered from Dhaka University area. Decomposed condition has been seen in the bodies of three of them.
Most of the newborns have been autopsied as the filed a case. Based on that autopsy, the Criminal Investigation Department of the police has also created a CID DNA profile. But it was not possible to match the DNA as there is no DNA bank. So the father or mother of the dead babies remained unknown.
UNICEF says Bangladesh has one of the highest neonatal mortality rates in the world where 82,000 newborns die after birth every year. These babies die in the first month of life and half die on the day they are born. Among the major causes of neonatal death in Bangladesh are premature births.
According to Bangladesh Shisu Odhikar Forum, the bodies of about 20 unidentified newborns have been recovered from roads, dustbins or bushes so far this month. A total of 205 stillbirths were recovered from 2015 to 2020. Of which 42 were newborns in 2019, 39 in 2018, 24 in 2017, 26 in 2016 and 52 in 2015. None of their parents were identified.
On December 5, Shahbagh police recovered the decomposed body of a newborn from in front of the Engineering School and College opposite Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University. Earlier on October 26, members of the Proctorial team rescued another newborn body from an open space behind the Central Library of DU. Members of the rescue proctorial team said the newborn had putrefaction on the body. The crow was eating it.
DU Proctor Professor AKM Golam Rabbani said, ‘it is much unexpected. We must prevent these incidents.’
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Shahbagh Police Station Mamun Aur Rashid told to the New Nation that after recovering the body police usually file case of unnatural death in these incidents. The case continues. But the identity of the parents of the newborn is never found.
Sohail Mahmud, Associate Professor (Department of Forensics) of Dhaka Medical College told the New Nation that not all the newborns rescued are autopsied. These babies are usually premature, aborted. We do autopsy if the police want. We collect body tissues or bones, profile them and send them to CID.
Sohail Mahmood said if we had DNA bank, many crimes would have been reduced.
CID Special Superintendent of Police (Forensic Lab) Rumana Akhter said, “Although the DNA of the recovered newborns was found, we do not have the DNA samples of their parents.” In all these cases we cannot identify them because the DNA of all the citizens of our country is not preserved.
Women and human rights activists say that men and Women are getting involved in many extramarital affairs due to social degradation.
