Brutally beaten, bitten her skull broken and limbs fractured, little Falak fought a bitter battle with life for nearly 60 days. But the two-year-old’s heart gave way finally Thursday night, after five critical surgeries and two earlier heart attacks, despite valiant efforts by doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
“The baby died of cardiac arrest. She suffered cardiac arrest at 9 p.m. and was declared dead at 9.40 p.m,” Deepak Agrawal, assistant professor neurosurgery at AIIMS, told IANS.
AIIMS Trauma Centre chief M.C. Misra said the baby had fluctuations in her heart rate since morning.
“We tried to revive when she had the attack at 9 p.m. but sadly we couldn’t,” he told IANS.
According to Agrawal, the baby’s heart had weakened due to cardiac arrests on two previous consecutive occasions – Jan 20 and 21.
“The atmosphere is very grim in the hospital because all the staff was emotionally attached to her,” he added.
The toddler had been battling for survival at AIIMS since she admitted with a fractured skull, bruises and human bite marks all over her body. Falak had undergone five life-saving surgeries.
Doctors March 9 had said that her condition had improved “nicely” and that she was likely to be discharged in a week’s time.
The police had arrested 10 people in the case including the key accused – Rajkumar Gupta, the man alleged to have handed over Falak to his 14-year-old girlfriend who brought the baby to the hospital claiming to be her mother.
Another woman– Pratima has also been arrested in the case. She was part of the human trafficking racket that exploited Rajkumar’s teen aged girlfriend.
Pratima had got Falak from Laxmi and given the child to Rajkumar who in turn handed her over to the teenaged girl whom he allegedly sexually abused.
Laxmi, who is also under arrest, had befriended Munni – Falak’s biological mother and persuaded her to leave her abusive husband and re-marry. She had arranged for a second husband for the 22-year-old Munni, and also kept her three children including Falak with herself and subsequently gave them away.