'On May 8, Mamta, who had boarded a Shramik Special train at Gujarat's Jamnagar went into labour and by the time she got off at her destination in Bihar's Chappra, she had a baby in her arms. A team of doctors along with railway staff supervised Mamta as she delivered a healthy baby girl after her compartment was converted into a makeshift labour room, according to railway official...'
'A five-year-old Dalit child allegedly died of hunger in Jharkhand’s Latehar district on May 16. Her father, a brick-kiln worker, said he had not been earned any wages during the lockdown. Video testimonies released by activists who visited the child’s home in Hesatu village, show family members, neighbours and community health workers attributing Nimani’s death to hunger. “She died of hunger,” the child’s mother, Kamlawati, can be heard saying in one of the videos. “She had not eaten for four-five days. What can we eat when there is nothing to eat?”...'
'The Madhya Pradesh police has booked five persons, including three minors, for posting a Facebook comment on Union agriculture and farmers welfare minister Narendra Singh Tomar mocking the incorrect way in which he was wearing a face mask. All the accused – Ajay Pratap Singh Sikarwar, Aman Singh, and minors AB, XX and YY* – are residents of Jaura village in Morena, which the Union minister represents in the Lok Sabha...'
'For two days, Sathya*, a single mother and her adolescent daughters drank only water. They were starving inside their slum tenement in Perumbakkam on the outskirts of Chennai until a neighbour shared rice which she had received from an NGO. Their free ration from the government had run out three weeks into the lockdown. “I was ashamed to ask for help with food and I couldn’t borrow money from anyone since no one has work here anymore,” says Sathya who is a housekeeper in a multinational corporation nearby.
'...15-year-old Babita is from Jhansi. She came to Phalodi for work, but this unprecedented lockdown has her hustling for the most basic of needs. She got her periods five days ago, and is using ash smeared on pieces of cloth she’s tearing from the three sets of clothes she had. She said, “Bahar sote hain, baarish hoti hai tab bhi, kapde dhoke vahi pehen rahi hun.” (We sleep outside even when it rains, I wash the clothes when the blood leaks, so I can wear the same clothes again.)...
'A 12-year-old boy succumbed to 16 hours of excruciating pain in Agra after half-a-dozen nursing homes and hospitals allegedly refused to treat him, fearing that he might be Covid-19 positive. Nihal Singh, the deceased, was suffering from acute stomach pain. After being turned away from six private nursing homes and hospitals, when his father finally took him to the government-run S.N. Medical College, they were told that it was meant for Covid patients only and he would be treated in the same ward as these patients.
'India could find itself in an acute health crisis over the next few months and the direct cause of it will not be the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Hundreds of thousands of children might already have missed vital immunizations, shows a Mint analysis of the latest health ministry data. Thousands of adults may have missed potentially life-saving medical treatment as the novel coronavirus epidemic spread and a lockdown came into force.
'Jamalo Madkam, 12, left her house for the first time two months ago, going with some relatives and friends to work at a chilli farm in Telangana. On Sunday, she returned dead, trying to make her way back amidst the coronavirus lockdown. Officials said the tribal girl died on April 18 due to electrolyte imbalance and exhaustion, having walked for over three days with 13 others, covering over 100 km and dying barely 11 km short of her home in Aded in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh...'
'Pregnant and bleeding, a woman who came to a Jamshedpur hospital was allegedly asked to clean up her blood, accused of spreading the coronavirus, and turned away-events which culminated in the loss of her child. The Jharkhand Police has taken cognizance of the incident and the Jamshedpur SSP has been asked to inquire into the matter...'
'A 45-year-old teacher who also is a BJP local leader in Kannur has been arrested in Kerala for allegedly sexually abusing his fourth grade student. K Padmarajan's arrest comes almost a month after a complaint was registered with the police via the children's helpline Childline...'
