Jalandhar, July 16 It has been 10 days since the body of a newborn and a foetus were found on two consecutive days, the police have not been able to get any lead in both cases. On July 5, the body of a newborn boy was found floating in a canal near Gulab Devi Road and on July 6, the Jalandhar police had found a six-month-old foetus in a canal in the Sheetal Nagar area. In both cases, the umbilical cords were clamped. FIRs had also been lodged and cases under Section 318 (concealment of birth by secret disposal of a body) of the IPC were registered in both incidents. Police officials had also checked hospitals where delivery cases had been reported during those days. But the police yet to get any clue, the officials said. The police are investigating the case and said no one had approached them so far in this regard. The police had preserved the DNA of the baby boy so that if his parents come to them, they would be able to match the same with them. “There is a possibility that the baby belongs to a poor family and they were living in slums due to which they might have had done this,” the police had said, adding that occultists would also be questioned. Nine cases reported since one year As many as nine cases of abandoned babies have been reported in the district since July last year. These don’t include cases that have gone unreported. While the gender ratio of the state has gone up from 837 to 900 girls every 1,000 boys, there is no let-up in incidents of babies being abandoned in the city.— TNS

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