This incident is distressing but not completely surprising in a country, which essentially continues to treat women as dirt. A nine-day-old girl was recovered from a trash can in Santacruz last evening after passersby were attracted by her cries. The infant was taken to VN Desai hospital and later to Sion hospital. Her condition is stated to be serious, but she is out of danger.

A source from Vakola police station said someone had witnessed a woman, possibly the mother, dumping the child inside the garbage bin. At the time of going to press two teams of cops had been sent to Kherwadi in Bandra to search for the culprit. Senior inspector Rajendra Singh Pardesi of Vakola police station said, “The baby was found inside a garbage bin at Seva Nagar near Milan subway. She is in Sion hospital. We have some leads and hope to arrest the offender soon.”u00a0