There was something floating in the stormwater drain which caught Geetha’s eye.
It was very early in the morning on Wednesday. The faint sound of a baby wailing somewhere could be heard. Geetha woke up to the arrival of her milkman, and she couldn’t stay put on hearing the persistent cries of the infant. She followed the noise to the stormwater drain near her house in Chennai’s Valasarvakkam area.
She quickly bent down and stretched her hand into the drain to pull out the newborn.
The video which captures Geetha rescuing the infant shows the newborn kicking and crying when pulled out of the drain.
Geetha picked the baby boy up and carefully removed the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck.
She caressed him and washed him clean, and rushed him to the hospital.
“For me, saving the life of the baby was most important. I didn’t care about anything else at that point. It had rained all of last evening. If it had rained like that this morning as well, the baby would have been swept away. It leads to the drainage from that point.”Geetha to The News Minute.
At Egmore Children’s Hospital, the doctors did a quick check-up and declared the child healthy.
Geetha was too overwhelmed. In the video, Geetha holds the baby enveloped in a pink blanket, and gives him a name.
“I named him Suthandhiram (freedom in Tamil) because I found him on Independence Day. He can grow up freely now.”Geetha
“No case has been filed. The child has been handed over and is receiving treatment at the Government Hospital For Women and Children in Egmore. The baby is doing fine. We will decide upon further action accordingly,” said a police official at the Valasaravakkam Police Station to The News Minute.
Geetha says she would happily raise the baby if she was entrusted with him.
Suthanthiram is under the care of the government’s Cradle Baby Scheme.