Infant dies of starvation after contractor denies woman permission to breastfeed baby

Deprived of mother's milk, 6-month-baby dies at RR factory. Has the heartless labor contractor killed a six month old baby at a pharma factory in Ranga Reddy district by refusing to allow the lactating mother a daily wage laborer to feed the baby at work place.

The heart rending incident occurred on February 7 at the site of the EMMENNAR Pharma Private Limited located at Turkalakhanapur in Hatnoora mandal of Ranga Reddy district. But the incident was kept under wraps and finally became public on Sunday when officials were probing the death of an infant.

According to police, M. Malleswari 30, mother of three minor girls and the baby boy, arrived here few days back to work in the factory under a contractor, Dharma Raju. Malleshwari had left behind her baby in the temporary shed nearby provided for workers and came to work. The contractor refused to permit her to go out and feed the baby for about two hours.

As the baby kept crying for an hour, the woman pleaded with the contractor to allow her to feed the baby. But in vain. When the baby stopped crying, the tense mother rushed to the shed only to find the child lifeless and when rushed to the government hospital at Narsapur the doctors declared it as brought dead.

Taking a serious view of the incident, district labor and Revenue officials filed a suo motu case against those responsible for the tragic incident including the factory management and the labor contractor. They have launched a man hunt for the contractor who is absconding.