Malkha Incident: Govt To ‘Take Care Of’ Child, Deputy Grand Mufti Deplores Father’s Act

Srinagar, Jan 2: Government on Wednesday said that Child Welfare Committee Srinagar has taken note of the incident involving burial of an infant born with deformity by father.

Secretary Social Welfare Department Dr Farooq Lone told GNS that the government will take care of the child.

“The Child Welfare Committee in Srinagar has taken cognizance of (the incident). The child is presently undergoing treatment at GB Pant Hospital,” he said.

Asked about the role of the Social Welfare Department in this regard, the officer said that the child will be taken care of.

Deputy Grand Mufti Nasir-Ul-Islam told GNS that there is no place for such “inhuman” incidents in the society.

He said that poverty is no excuse for such “deplorable” incident. “This is also an attempt to murder,” he said.

“This is a lesson for all of us – to introspect and come forward to help the poor and the needy people around us. We have to save humanity,” the Deputy Grand Mufti said.

He added, “We should come forward to take care of the infant. Adoption is not allowed in Islam except in the rarest of the rare cases. So, one should come forward.”

As reported on Tuesday, a father tried to bury alive his infant son having a deformity, at Malkha graveyard in Srinagar’s Old City.

Police arrested the man who justified the action under the pretext of being poor to take care of the son.

The person, Manzoor Ahmad Banyari, a resident of Check Shopian, had approached the gravedigger in Malkha asking him to dig a grave for the infant baby who he told him died yesterday (Monday) late afternoon.

The baby, according to official sources, was born a few days back at Valley’s premier maternity hospital Lal Ded here and was suffering from a tumor.

As soon the gravedigger placed the infant inside the grave, the baby suddenly started screaming which caught the attention of locals.

In the meantime, a group of people caught hold of the man and handed him over to police station Nowhatta.

Police have registered a case under FIR number 72/2018 under section 317 RPC and taken up the further investigations.

However, the man was released on court orders on Tuesday. (GNS)