Newborn Girl Dumped at Trash Heap, Her Viral Video Leads Journalists to Seek Adoption

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Are people’s hearts turning to stone? What would possess a new mother to abandon her precious child on a heap of garbage? Surely there is a better way to deal with the situation.

There are many unwanted children in the world, but thankfully there are others with hearts of true gold who are willing to take on the responsibility of bringing up a child that isn’t their own.

This journalist couple opened their hearts for an unwanted baby and are now hoping to give her the best possible life.

Vinod Kapri is an Indian journalist and filmmaker based in New Delhi, India. While scrolling through his Twitter feed as any good journalist would, one particular clip riveted him—it was a graphic video of a young crying and distressed baby that had been dumped at a rubbish tip. Moved by the sight, Kapri showed the video to his wife, Sakshi Joshi, also a journalist.

“We were very upset,” Kapri told CNN. “I couldn’t watch the whole video—I could hear her crying and that was enough,” Joshi said.

Instinct took over for the couple, and they were immediately compelled to help her.

“Our conversation suddenly shifted to: ‘We should adopt her,’” Joshi added.

So Joshi sent out a plea on Twitter, asking for any information about the baby. “We had no idea of the location of the video or its authenticity,” Kapri said. “We see many fake videos of babies on social media.”

Soon, many joined in the search for any information or clues on the baby’s whereabouts—sending the tweet viral. “Everybody on Twitter was keen to find the girl,” Joshi added.

Through their sources, the couple were given some leads that the baby was in Rajasthan, India.

Kapri then engaged the help of a former colleague and friend, Rahul Choudhry, who found the baby at Jawaharlal Nehru Government Hospital in Nagaur. The baby was admitted in the hospital with a serious condition. Choudhry visited the hospital and sent a video of the baby to Kapri, who then uploaded it to his Twitter page, where he kept his Twitter followers informed about the little baby girl.

The couple then announced on Twitter that they would adopt the baby girl and asked their followers about the adoption process.

“We never had any intention of adopting a baby. I’m already 46,” Kapri said. “We had no idea about the process. We started researching and we found out that adoption is quite tedious and long in India.”

“We are both going to do our medical checkups, the application will take 2-3 more days,” he added.

After driving 500 kilometers (311 miles) to Nagaur to see her, the couple were overcome with emotion. “I can’t express my feelings ... what me and my wife felt was just beyond words, I completely lost my words. Inexplicable,” Kapri said.

On Father’s Day, a picture of the couple holding the baby girl was shared on social media with the caption: “The whole Kapri family is dying to have her in the family.”

As a temporary name, they have called her “Pihu,” as suggested by some of Kapri’s Twitter followers. “It’s the name of a bird and a film I directed. The main character has a 2-year-old,” Kapri said.

Little Pihu was reported to be doing well, although her weight, 1.6 kilograms (3.5 pounds), was below normal.

Thankfully, there are still plenty of kindhearted people out in the world, like this journalist couple, who were ready to open their hearts to someone who was in need.

In response to their kindheartedness, one user tweeted: “We are blessed to have a couple like you. May all the happiness of the world shower on this lovely family.”