Another dead baby found

JAKARTA (JP): A newborn baby was found dead on the first floor of the Kopro market in Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta, yesterday, taking the death toll of abandoned babies sent to the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital this year to 50.

The baby boy was found by a passerby in a black plastic bag with its head covered with ladies blood-stained underwear, a Tanjung Duren subprecinct police officer said.

The newborn boy was believed to have been thrown away just a few hours earlier as the placenta was still attached to the tiny stomach.

An unidentified woman found the baby while shopping in the market.

When she passed the black plastic bag she smelt a putrid odor coming out of it, the officer said.

The woman reported the find at the police station at 8 a.m. Officers rushed to the scene to pick up the infant.

On Wednesday another newborn baby was found by a river cleaner while he was sweeping garbage near the Kali Malang river in East Jakarta.

The baby girl was found in a brown lady's bag floating on the river. She was dead but there was no signs of physical violence on her tiny body.

Commenting on the incidents, forensic expert Mun'im Idries said that leaving a newborn child without proper treatment would surely lead to its death.

Infanticide violates Article No. 341 of the criminal code and carries a maximum punishment of seven years imprisonment. (04)