KARACHI, Jan 15 A newborn girl was found dead in a street of a Lyari locality within the remit of the Eidgah police station on Friday, police and a charity organisation said.

This was the fifth such incident reported during the last one month, they said.

They added that area people spotted the body in Street No 2 of the Eigah area. The residents first approached the area police station and then Chhipa volunteers to inform them about the newborn's body.

“The body was badly disfigured and mauled by stray animals, birds and insects,” said a spokesman for the Chhipa Welfare Association.

“It was retrieved and then buried in the Mewashah graveyard after completing due formalities.”

“This is the first such incident we have handled this year,” said Ramzan Chhipa, chief of the Chhipa Welfare Association. “Last year alone, we buried dozens of bodies (of newborns). We started a campaign about a year ago to convince people not to kill their unwanted babies as we are ready to accept them without disclosing the identity of their parents.”

Another major charity organization of the city, Edhi Foundation, also accepts newborns from families without asking questions.

Only last month, the bodies of two newborn babies were found at two separate places in Korangi. The volunteers of the charity organization found one body near a government dispensary next to the Korangi Crossing and the other at a place near the Juma Bazaar Ground in Sector-A of Korangi Town.

The police said they came to know about the incident only through a few area residents and then Chhipa volunteers. When asked, they said that they had not yet lodged an FIR of the incident.

Though the police usually avoid carrying out legal formalities in case newborns are found dead, lawyers wonder as to how the law-enforcers can ignore such incidents, which can be registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 329 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Section 329 says “Whoever, by secretly burying or otherwise disposing of the body of a child whether the child dies before, after or during birth, intentionally conceals or endeavours to conceal the birth of such child, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.”