Homeless girl in India forced to give birth on street metres away from health centre

'She was shivering and unable to lift and cuddle her infant'

The unnamed girl shortly after giving birth on the street in Chandil, in India's state of Jharkhand

Angry residents reportedly stormed a medical centre after it turned away a homeless 17-year-old girl, who was then forced to give birth on the street outside.

The teenager had been begging in the town of Chandil, in the Indian state of Jharkand, for several months.

The Pioneer newspaper said the panchayat – self-governing council – of her village had ordered her widowed mother to throw her out of the family home after learning of her pregnancy.

Local resident Om Prakesh Sharma found the girl distressed and bereft of strength at the side of the road immediately after giving birth, according to the Hindustan Times.

“She was in a miserable state,” he told the paper. “She was shivering and unable to lift and cuddle her infant. Heavy vehicles were crossing by but she didn’t have strength to move aside.”

A group of bystanders tried to alert the nearby health centre, but staff reportedly refused to help, saying they needed permission from their supervisors and the girl’s family.

They became angry, after which police were called and the group ended up taking her into the centre on a motorised rickshaw in the absence of an ambulance.

Even so, it took more than two hours for her to be admitted.

The Hindustan Times reported that angry residents then “stormed” the office of surgeon Dr AP Singha in response to the delayed treatment.

The girl's mother went to the centre to visit her, only to be admitted herself with an unknown ailment.

Dr Singha claimed the girl refused her mother’s request to return home.

Instead, a place has been found for the teenager at the Mahila Suraksha Griha, a woman’s shelter in the town of Chaibasa, some 60km from Chandil.

Jharkand is one of India’s poorest states, with almost 40 per cent of the population living below the poverty line.

A 2014 study also found that women’s participation in government rural employment programmes there, was 22 per cent below the national average.