A newborn baby boy was found abandoned in a garbage dump at Nyemoling on December 5 morning.
 
After some passersby spotted it, they informed the police about the body of a dead baby lying among the trash. Police have traced the mother of the child the very next day and have registered a case against it. The case is still under investigation. 
 
As per the sources, the child was dumped by an unwed 26-year-old mother who lives in a rented accommodation alone. 
 
The body of the baby was sent for postmortem, and the report is still awaited. The police are looking into the identity of the child's father.
 
Cases of newborn children being abandoned, dead or alive, is not new in Leh. Similar incidents have come to light in the past also. The number of the unreported incident may be unknown. The desperation and question still surround us that what drives a mother to this point. What is the root cause of the problem of child abandonment? 
 
Child Welfare Committee, Leh suggested setting up of Cradle Baby Reception centre in Leh to ensure that babies who would otherwise have been killed are given up for adoption. The order of establishing one such centre has been issued by the Directorate Health of the erstwhile state of J&K which is still pending.