Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Newborn Survives Being Buried Alive in India
Aired July 10, 2003 - 06:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: There is a tradition in India in which parents pay expensive dowries when their daughters get married. Well, sociologists say that is one reason why so many parents there murder their daughters.
CNN New Delhi bureau chief Satinder Bindra has this incredible story of one baby girl and the will to live.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): An entire village gathers around a wailing baby, a baby left for dead but very much alive. Telling neighbors her daughter's miraculous story: Ghulab Kali. When she began labor a few days ago, Kali says her husband told her he was rushing her to a hospital. Instead, she says, she was brought here, the middle of nowhere. She tells me she gave birth on this patch of wet dirt.
GHULAB KALI, MOTHER (through translator): It was really hurting. I pushed my back with one hand and pulled the baby out with the other. After giving birth, I fainted.
BINDRA: When she regained consciousness, Kali says her husband cut the umbilical cord with rocks. She says she fainted again. When she came to, both her newborn and her husband were gone. Kali says she feared the worst, because her husband had already warned her he didn't want a second daughter.
Semi-delirious, she walked more than four miles, first to her father's house, then this police station. More than 30 hours had passed since she gave birth. The police began a frantic search.
One officer noticed freshly-dug earth in a pile of rocks. When he moved them, he was startled by a baby's cry.
R.D. DIWEDI, POLICE OFFICER (through translator): When we pulled out the baby, the mother began to cry. When we saw this, we began to weep as well.
BINDRA (on camera): Police officers tell me the baby had been dumped in this hole, which is one and a half feet deep. Then, they say, she had been covered with a pile of rocks. But since these rocks were loosely placed, police say the baby probably had enough oxygen to breath.
(voice-over): The shade of this tree and the moist earth also may have kept her alive. Police say she is very lucky these wild dogs didn't harm her. The hole was infested with scorpions and a single sting could have killed her. But her only injuries: bruised fingers.
Ghulab Kali's husband is now in jail, charged with attempted murder. This devout Hindu says she doesn't want to see him again.
KALI (through translator): What kind of human being is he? I don't want to see his face anymore. He has troubled me for years. God will punish him for sure.
BINDRA: Kali named her daughter, Daisy (ph), or goddess, because she's convinced the god smiled on her.
Satinder Bindra, CNN, Hermana (ph), India.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired July 10, 2003 - 06:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: There is a tradition in India in which parents pay expensive dowries when their daughters get married. Well, sociologists say that is one reason why so many parents there murder their daughters.
CNN New Delhi bureau chief Satinder Bindra has this incredible story of one baby girl and the will to live.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): An entire village gathers around a wailing baby, a baby left for dead but very much alive. Telling neighbors her daughter's miraculous story: Ghulab Kali. When she began labor a few days ago, Kali says her husband told her he was rushing her to a hospital. Instead, she says, she was brought here, the middle of nowhere. She tells me she gave birth on this patch of wet dirt.
GHULAB KALI, MOTHER (through translator): It was really hurting. I pushed my back with one hand and pulled the baby out with the other. After giving birth, I fainted.
BINDRA: When she regained consciousness, Kali says her husband cut the umbilical cord with rocks. She says she fainted again. When she came to, both her newborn and her husband were gone. Kali says she feared the worst, because her husband had already warned her he didn't want a second daughter.
Semi-delirious, she walked more than four miles, first to her father's house, then this police station. More than 30 hours had passed since she gave birth. The police began a frantic search.
One officer noticed freshly-dug earth in a pile of rocks. When he moved them, he was startled by a baby's cry.
R.D. DIWEDI, POLICE OFFICER (through translator): When we pulled out the baby, the mother began to cry. When we saw this, we began to weep as well.
BINDRA (on camera): Police officers tell me the baby had been dumped in this hole, which is one and a half feet deep. Then, they say, she had been covered with a pile of rocks. But since these rocks were loosely placed, police say the baby probably had enough oxygen to breath.
(voice-over): The shade of this tree and the moist earth also may have kept her alive. Police say she is very lucky these wild dogs didn't harm her. The hole was infested with scorpions and a single sting could have killed her. But her only injuries: bruised fingers.
Ghulab Kali's husband is now in jail, charged with attempted murder. This devout Hindu says she doesn't want to see him again.
KALI (through translator): What kind of human being is he? I don't want to see his face anymore. He has troubled me for years. God will punish him for sure.
BINDRA: Kali named her daughter, Daisy (ph), or goddess, because she's convinced the god smiled on her.
Satinder Bindra, CNN, Hermana (ph), India.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
