She had complained of stomach ache, but doctors discovered the girl was in fact pregnant.
A 10-year-old Indian girl has given birth to a baby girl. Doctors performed a cesarean section on the girl on Thursday 17th August 2017.
She gave birth in a hospital located in Chandigarh in Punjab, India. Reports claim that the youngster became pregnant after her uncle allegedly raped her on several occasions.
After supposedly raping her for several months, the crimes only became known when the girl’s parents took her to a hospital. In July 2017, she had complained of stomach ache, but doctors discovered the girl was in fact pregnant.
Her parents claim they didn’t know of the pregnancy. Police later arrested the child’s uncle.
In the same month, they appealed to India’s Supreme Court for a late-term abortion request, as the pregnancy was 32 weeks. However, the court dismissed it on 28th July.
The law states that hospitals cannot carry out a medical termination after 20 weeks – unless the mother or child’s life would be in danger.
Now, doctors have confirmed that the 10-year-old girl has given birth. Doctor Dasari Harish from HOD, Medical College, Chandigarh, explained:
“She gave birth through C-section today [Thursday]. Both the girl and her baby are doing fine. The surgery was uneventful. There were no complications whatsoever. The baby weighed 2.2 kilos (4.8 pounds) and is in the neonatal ICU for now.”
Reports also suggest that the young girl did not know of her pregnancy, even during the C-section. Her parents supposedly told her the surgery would remove a stone in her stomach.
While the 10-year-old recovers from the operation, the baby girl will reportedly go up for adoption. A child welfare committee will look after the child until she is adopted. Media outlets claim the parents want nothing to do with the baby and have not looked at her.
In India, the country faces a huge struggle with sexual assaults, particularly on minors. According to government data, it reveals that 20,000 cases were reported which involved the rape or sexual assault of a minor in 2015.
Previous cases have emerged in 2017, detailing similar incidents. It seems then the country faces a tough battle in tackling this issue.
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