Baby bitten by father undergoes surgery, sister in hospital too

A reconstructive plastic surgery was performed here on Friday on the five-month-old girl whose upper lip and nose were bitten off, allegedly by her father, in Siyana village near Bikaner.

Doctors at Jaipur's SMS Hospital said the baby was able to breathe and swallow better following the operation that went on for over four hours.

Her three-year-old elder sister, who was also bitten on the back and hand, is in hospital too. The injuries on her hand have got infected.

Dr G S Kalra, who operated upon the baby, said she will need another surgery after a month.

"We used tissues from the lower lip to reconstruct the upper lip and some tissues from the forehead to reconstruct the nose," he said.

Doctors are hopeful that the recovery will be fast at this tender age.

Her mother said she decided to flee her alcoholic husband of 17 years, Bhadar Singh, after he attacked both their daughters.

On the night of January 24, she said, he had come home drunk and asked her to do some work. She said she had mehndi on her hand and asked him to wait.

Flying into a rage, Singh allegedly first started beating her up and when their elder daughter raised an alarm, bit her on her back and hand.

Awakened by the commotion, the five-month old started crying and Singh allegedly rushed to the baby, picked her up and bit off her nose and upper lip and swallowed them.

She said she had fled the same night with her daughters and hidden in the fields. Next morning she filed an FIR with the help of social workers. She has been socially ostracised since while her in-laws have been pressuring her to withdraw the case.

"The woman was a child bride herself and has endured immense physical trauma... It took a lot of effort to convince her to come to Jaipur for medical aid," said Deepak Kalra, chairperson of the Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

... contd.

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