During the early hours of Independence Day, the residents of SVS Nagar in Valasaravakkam, Chennai were shocked when they found an infant inside a storm water drain. Barely a few hours old, the infant had his umbilical cord tried around the neck perhaps with intent to choke him to death. He was rescued and admitted to a nearby hospital immediately.
The woman who rescued the infant was identified as Geetha, 45, a former actress who saved the baby. She quickly responded to an alarm raised by the local milkman. She then located the infant after hearing his cries coming from under the drain. Amidst rising curiosity and concern amongst the people in the vicinity, she quickly un-winded the umbilical from his neck, gave him a wash and called the police.
“I reacted immediately; it was spontaneous,” she said. “As a dozen or so residents and bystanders looked on, I peeped through the drain — an iron pipe around 1ft in diameter — and saw the child inside.” She took the infant out of the drain.
“It was painful to see a child dumped like that,” Geetha added. “It appeared that the person who abandoned the boy had deliberately pushed him deep enough inside the drain so he would be out of sight. I don’t think there was any feeling for the child because the umbilical cord seemed to be tied around the neck so it would slowly kill him. But he managed to scream out and be found.”
The infant was first taken to a government hospital at Chinna Porur and was later shifted to Institute of Child Health and Hospital, Egmore where he was placed in an incubator. “He is weak but will recover,” a police officer said.
Geetha and the others who helped in the rescue operation named the lucky infant ‘Suthanthiram’ (Freedom), since he was born on Independence Day. “He will have a good and free life from now on because he was rescued from the jaws of death on this Independence Day. Had it rained this morning as much as it had last night, he would have been washed away in the filled up drain”, Geetha said.
Health minister C Vijayabaskar, arrived in the hospital soon enough and ensured that the baby was well taken care of. An official confirmed that the infant would be kept under observation for a few more days and added, “We will hand over the baby to an orphanage through child helpline officials when he’s ready to go.”
Suthanthiram shall be placed under the ‘Cradle Baby Scheme’ while Geetha has added that she would love to have him.
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