A 25-year old single, pregnant woman attempted to self-deliver after watching YouTube videos on child delivery but both mother and child did not survive the process on Sunday, 10 March in Gorakhpur’s Bilanpur.
The woman and her newborn son were both found dead, reported the police on Monday, 11 March according to a report by Hindustan Times.
The police were alerted to the incident when other tenants in the building saw blood coming out from under the door of the woman’s rented accommodation on Sunday, reported The Times of India.
Social Stigma Could Be Reason For Self-Delivery: SHO Ravi Rai
The woman’s apartment was under the Cantonment police station.
The station house officer (SHO), Cantonment, Ravi Rai told Hindustan Times that the “fear and social stigma of being an unmarried mother” might have driven her to take the drastic measure.
He added that her relatives were informed of the incident and they confirmed she was unmarried.
“Her landlord Ravi Upadhyay broke open the door and found the woman and a newborn baby boy lying dead. He immediately informed the police, who reached the site and sent the body for post-mortem. Her smart phone revealed that she was watching ‘how to deliver baby by self’ and other similar safe delivery processes on YouTube.”Ravi Rai to Hindustan Times
The SHO added that a scissors, a blade and thread was found near the woman’s body.
The woman was a native of Bahraich, but was staying in Gorakhpur since the last four years as she was preparing for competitive exams, police said reported PTI.
Her landlord told The Hindustan Times that she rented the accommodation four days ago. He added that she told him her mother would be coming and accompanying her to the hospital for her delivery.
The family received her body post the autopsy and have not filed an FIR against anybody, said SHO Ravi Rai.
(With inputs from The Hindustan Times, The Times of India and PTI)
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