It is a matter of grave concern to frequently discover the bodies of newborn being thrown in an open garbage in different pockets of Nagaland. It breaks my heart to see the images and videos being circulated through social media. Such angelic faces being abandoned or thrown at the roadside, jungle and river side, the recent one being in Dimapur on May 7, 2018 at 3rd Mile near Tuesday market. It really hurts even to imagine why the baby deserved to die. Forget about being a mother or as a Christian, the question here is, does humanity still exist?
The term ‘Neonaticide’ was coined by Resnick to describe murder of an infant within the first 24 hours of life. It is believed and understood that pregnancy and birth are often hidden out of fear of rejection by parents, community and society. To my understanding, I believe there are several factors in Newborn Killing Syndrome.
Firstly, it is about some dumbo college going girls who fall prey to short term goals. I’m totally against some orthodox mentality taking on Naga girls’ inter-marriage. Every girl has the right to marry the love of her life. The person could be Black or White, who are we to be racists? (Here I do not include the cases of “not so educated” girls’ inter-marriage with Miyas in Nagaland that need to be discouraged at any cost) But the point here is, some girls indulge in live-in relationship. You misuse the freedom your parents gave you and finally pulled yourself down to the level of a prostitute. Parents’ hard earned money are invested in live-in honeymoon. Thereafter, he would dump you like garbage the time you become pregnant. You single handedly took care of the pregnancy in total isolation, finally decided to hide the child’s birth and mercilessly throw the baby like a garbage.
Secondly, some thick skin cheapos would hook up with young daddies who would dress up and pose for lense as ‘single’ on Facebook. Those men after using you, reveal the stories of how cheap you showed up when you asked them of buying top-up and net pack as soon as you got an inch closer to him. There are also stories where you hang out with Facebook friends and a bottle or just a can of beer seems enough to draw your attention. Ending up in physical relationship after getting intoxicated, you conceive only to kill the baby because it was not out of committed relationship.
Thirdly, some girls have a boyfriend hijacking skill. You take good care of someone despite knowing fully that he already has a girlfriend with whom he is planning a future with. The ability to shamelessly lullaby someone’s boyfriend is an excellent proof that there’s evil in you. You continue to rock with him, resulting in pregnancy. Finally he washed off his hands and pregnancy solely becomes your responsibility since you choose to be a backdoor girlfriend. You kill the baby for the fact that the baby’s father is someone’s boyfriend whom you hijacked and hence not justifiable to declare giving birth publicly.
Fourthly, we have some women who are gold diggers and creamy layer freaks. I see with my own eyes in our society that some “No-moral Women” choose to go with Government officers, politicians and well-to-dos. Most of these home wreckers refuse to accept that marital home is manned by legally wedded wife. Sadly, many unfortunate wives still do not get the smell of their husband’s proxy keeping practice. This ultimately puts ‘shameless mistress’ on advantageous side when she is up for anything, putting up her flesh on rent and continue as ‘undercover girlfriend’ for ages. You being a woman yourself, impregnated by another woman’s husband finally opted to throw the baby to prove clean in public. The child could have lived if not for your misadventure.
Apart from the above four categories, there are some women who are sex slaves, forcefully raped and abused much against their wishes. Also, some sex workers earn their livelihood out of compulsion. Unprotected sex literally leads to pregnancy with HIV for both mother and her child. I believe such cases of unwanted birth leads to newborn killings in case of some mothers.
Oh killer mother! Did you even regret the size of a mustard seed while throwing away the life of the one you gave life? Remember, you were cursed by every living mouth that saw the precious baby you killed. This crime against humanity will haunt you until the time you confess and God forgives you, for God has heard the cry of an innocent baby and measured its tears. Every child is equally precious after they’re sent to this world and they have the ‘Right to Life’ as much as you do.
A mother’s heart rejoices and the height of excitement is when she sees the infant’s face for the first time after a nine months journey. Alas! What kind of mother stare at her innocent baby to kill him/her? What wrong has the baby done? You cannot turn back the clock and undo the things. Whatsoever be the case, there’s no word to describe a mother that allows her child to die. Motherhood is a privilege not every woman could attend, your child is your pride.
What a joy it gives when you count your blessings! But what a perfect joy when your blessing reaches you in the form of human! To me, pregnancy is the most beautiful expression of God’s procreation that is reflected in womanhood. In no way I’m encouraging illegal pregnancy but this write-up is intended to convey “killing your own blood child is an incomprehensible crime”.
There are multiple reasons as to why mother’s crime is visibly increasing in recent times but it is never too late to teach youngsters to have a good command over morality and start living a dignified life. If dignity isn’t our virtue and if our personality doesn’t reflect our character, where is our integrity? An effort to create awareness is extremely important at this juncture but who will bell the cat to break this barrier of ignorance? Mother’s Hope and some other adoption centres brings salvation and hope to mother and child. But many aren’t even aware of Mother’s Hope Dimapur though this noble venture caters to the society’s needs for decades altogether. How blessed it would be if churches and NGOs gear up to kick start “Save Newborn Mission”! To educate our sisters in need, can the church play a vital role by organizing seminars? Can our tribal Women Hohos take some stringent measures and also conduct sensitization for respective tribes? Can our NGOs, especially those availing fund from Government as well as receiving foreign aid create more awareness? We should let our sisters realize how precious life is and how important it is to save life. Let them learn that there are thousands of people wanting children in their lives and flocking the most reputed hospitals in the country. Never heard of a father killing an infant in Nagaland if not a mother herself, this maternal filicide is a big challenge that disturbs my mind in all seriousness. God will surely bless us as we bless others. Let us prioritize sensitizing our sisters so that they choose to be a ‘mother’ than to be a ‘murderer’.
