Teenager Delivers Baby After Watching YouTube Video, Kills Newborn

A 15-year-old girl who is a rape survivor allegedly gave birth to a girl at her home after watching YouTube videos and murdered the baby.

According to a police officer, the survivor was raped by a man she met online.

The girl is a Class IX student residing in Nagpur, Maharastra. She said that a year ago, she became acquainted with a young man called Thakur on Instagram. The man had taken her to a friend's place where he forced himself upon her after compelling her to consume alcohol. The student was impregnated and kept the assault and pregnancy a secret.

Teenager Delivers Baby After Watching YouTube Video

Reportedly, the teenage girl gave birth to a daughter on March 2 at her house before killing the baby by strangling her. According to police reports, she put the body in a box in her house.  As the baby's screams would have aroused the neighbours, the minor allegedly strangled the sobbing infant with a belt until she stopped crying. As per the allegations, the baby was then put in a box and kept on the balcony.

The survivor was in poor shape when her mother found her at home. The mother her to the hospital right away, where she discovered that the child had given birth on her own. The Ambazari police were quickly notified by the physicians. After questioning the young girl, who admitted to the incident, police collected the baby's body and transported it to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) for a post-mortem.

According to senior inspector Gajanan Kalyankar of the Ambazari police station, authorities are still looking for the man.

The authorities did not have the man's number since he solely used voice calls and Facebook messenger to interact with the 15-year-old girl. Her mother had also broken her phone a few weeks prior after discovering that she had been using it to speak with random people. The mother saw blood stains in various areas, which brought the issue to light. The teenager attempted to deceive her mother by claiming that the blood trail was caused by her period, but the reality soon came to light.

Under both the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act and the Indian Criminal Code (IPC), a complaint has been filed. A post-mortem report is awaited before the murder accusation is brought forward.

According to the data collected by West Bengal's MatriMa programme, around 17 percent of the pregnant women are teenagers in the state. Teenage pregnancies are a cause for concern among health experts because it is risky to both the mother and child.

Suggested Reading: Consensual Relationship Between Minor Couple Is Not Sexual Assault, Says Court