It was like any other day. I woke up, got dressed and dragged my ass to yet another agonizing lecture on dead people. Personally Forensic science was never my forte. I mean who likes to hang around in the mortuary for the better part of the day 😦 That day was supposed to be like any other day. We were supposed to be having a lecture on bones which I had planned to sleep through. What I didn’t know was that a single incident was going to change my outlook on life forever.
Halfway through the lecture we were told that there was a very special case for postmortem that day and that we shouldn’t miss it. Happy that I won’t have to suffer the boredom of a lecture theater I all but skipped to the postmortem house.
Instead of a body there lay a small bundle wrapped in an old blanket. There was buzzing all around, students trying to figure out what it was that we were going to witness. Finally the blanket was removed. There lay a small girl, barely two days old with bruises covering her face and neck. A collective gasp resounded in the room.
The whole thing was supposed to be the highlight of our term since very few people got to witness this. It would help us to understand what we read in the books better but none of these thoughts could remove the ache that was forming in my chest. The harsh reality that female infanticide did exist hit me hard. Reading about it in the news never made this more real than it was at that moment.
What had that poor girl done to anyone? Should she be killed this mercilessly just because she was a girl?
As time passed we learnt how her parents had wrapped her up in a blanket just one day after she was born and then dumped her at a secluded place to die. She died of hunger and cold. Damn she was even attacked by the dogs, hence the bruises. She was born alive there was no doubt of it. Her parents didn’t want her so they took care of the situation the old way.
How can people be so heartless? How is it possible for a mother to murder her child whom she nurtured in her womb for nine months? I can’t begin to understand the reasons behind this cruelty.
We need to take a stand. Female infanticide is a crime and just not humane. To fight this we must join hands. Talk to the people you know, create awareness and if you see such a thing happening around you, inform the authorities. Search your soul and tell me-
“Was she really born to die?”