Shawdesh desk:

Nazifa Begum was out for her usual morning walk after Fazr prayers on Tuesday, near the Saleha Market area, on the outskirts of Mymensingh city, when something unusual caught her attention – an unusual shape of object in a drain near her house, moving.

When she went closer to inspect, she realized – to her horror – that the moving object was a human baby, covered in mud and filth, barely breathing.

The newborn boy was covered in filth from head to toe – even his nostrils. His umbilical cord was still attached to his body.

At first, Nazifa was hesitant as to whether she should pick the baby up.

“But then I remembered it was my moral and religious duty to save a life,” she told Dhaka Tribune.

“As soon as I took him in my arms, he started crying. He was shivering from cold. I cleaned his face so he could open his eyes,” she added.

With the infant in her arms, Nazifa cried out for help. Her son, Nadim Mahmud, as well as several neighbours rushed to the spot when they heard her.

The boy was rescued around 6am, and given a bath after police arrived around 9am.

After police came, Nazifa fed the baby some sugar water, and he fell asleep.

“I held him for three hours,” she said. “I saw bruises on his neck and back.”

Nazifa’s son Nadim said he had noticed blood in front of a shop near the spot where the newborn had been rescued from.

“I saw blood and footprints there. Maybe the child was delivered at that very place,” he commented.

Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Mymensingh Kotwali Model police station OC Mahmudul Islam said the baby was in Mymensingh Medical College Hospital under police custody.

“We will inform the court of the baby. The court will decide the next course of action,” he added.