Nari Niketan rape victim tries to cope with motherhood

“After delivery,we taught her to breastfeed and since the second day of the birth,she has been feeding the child,” Dr Anju Hurria,head of the Department of Gynaecology,said.

“She seems aware of the fact that she has given birth to a baby and tries to shower affection on the child,” Dr Hurria said.

Doctors say physically the “woman and the child are in good shape,but the mother is unable to express her emotions for most part of the day”.

“We try to understand her through her behaviour or actions. She is apparently happy when the baby is around,but beyond that we do not know how much she really understands or is affected by childbirth,” Dr Hurria said.

The doctors don’t have any answers on the long-term affects of childbirth on the woman’s emotional behaviour.

She was admitted to the hospital on November 18 and it will take a few more days before she is shifted back to Ashreya with the child,Dr Vineet Goyal of the hospital said.

On May 18,the police had registered a case of rape of the 19-year-old mentally challenged inmate of Nari Niketan,who was then three months pregnant. Deputy Superintendent of Police Kulwant Singh Pannu,who is heading the Special Investigating Team constituted to probe the case,said the DNA samples of the accused had already been submitted to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory and the DNA sample of the newborn will be matched with other samples.

Dr Vipin Kaushal,medical superintendent of the hospital,said,“We are taking good care of the mother and the child. We will make sure that both are well taken care of in Ashreya.”