Representative image of a hospital.
Credit: iStock Photo
Jajpur: A woman and her newborn son were allegedly abandoned by her husband and in-laws soon after the childbirth at a government hospital in Odisha's Jajpur district.
The woman claimed that her husband used to say that he had married someone else also. The man is absconding.
According to officials, Dali Mallick of Ali block in Kendrapara district was admitted to Jajpur District Headquarters Hospital here by her husband, identified as Chandan Mallick, on January 1.
She gave birth to a baby boy two days later.
However, Chandan and his family members allegedly fled leaving Dali and the newborn baby in the hospital due to an earlier family feud.
As Dali was in the hospital bed, she did not know that her family members had run away.
She started searching for her husband and in-laws in the hospital on Wednesday and when she failed to find them, she called her husband over the phone, but he did not respond.
"We saw the woman crying at the hospital with her newborn baby. We came to know that her husband and in-laws had abandoned her at the hospital. We could only give her some food and console her," said Sarada Das, an attendant in the hospital.
On receiving the information, police reached the hospital and both the mother and the newborn baby were handed over to the District Child Protection Unit.
"After admitting me to the hospital, my husband and in-laws fled. He often said that he had married another woman and would not accept me," said Dali.
Police said Dali who hails from Jajpur district had tied the knot with Chandan Mallick, who is a resident of neighbouring Kendrapara district in 2021.
The Child Welfare Committee officials said that action will be taken against Chandan for neglecting his wife and newborn baby.