A dog's deed melts hearts
A stray dog stood guard near a human baby wrapped in a piece of cloth and waited until it drew people's attention.
Alive or lifeless, the body seemed delicate to the creature. It had dragged the baby with care from a ditch and put it down on a sidewalk in front of the district's central library on Thursday afternoon, said Fazle Rabbi, a resident of the area.
Being curious about what the dog was protecting, people gathered around and found to their astonishment that it was a premature baby. Some of them then began inquiring whether it had life and informed the police, Rabbi said.
As the matter sank in, people became emotional and began praising the dog for its kindness to the dead infant. They looked around but the loving creature was nowhere.
"While I feel great admiration for the dog that picked up the body from the drain, I am angry at those who dumped it," said the student of Rajshahi Commerce College.
The place where the baby was left abandoned was surrounded by clinics and hospitals including Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital.
Police must act swiftly and arrest the criminals who disposed of the body, said Selim Reza, a signboard artist who was working inside the library compound at the time.
"It is horrifying to see a tiny cute baby left by the road," he said.
Police arrived at the scene as early as they could and sent the corpse to Rajshahi Medical College for an autopsy, said Mahfuzur Rahman, sub-inspector of Rajpara Police Station.
"Surprisingly, there was no mark of the dog's bite on the body."
The skin appeared to be peeling off, probably because the body had been soaked in drain water for long, the SI said.
Officer-in-Charge Amanullah said the body was kept at the college mortuary after taking DNA samples to identify the parents since no one claimed the body yet.
Asked about the police's next course of action, Mahfuzur told The Daily Star that a case of unnatural death had already been filed.
Police are gathering information to find out if the mother stayed at any nearby clinic or hospital and if the body was dumped by any of those facilities.
They are waiting for the autopsy report to know whether the baby was killed at birth, the SI added.
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