A 17-year-old girl from Kaarithottam, Mezhuveli grama panchayat in Pathanamthitta in Kerala, who was carrying her father’s child, gave birth to a girl at the Kottayam Medical College Hospital on May 5.
The mother and baby were discharged and are being looked after by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
The girl had a normal delivery and was taken care of by the mother while in hospital, according to Ms Susamma Mathew, chairperson of CWC which bore all her expenses.
“A special room has been set up at Mahilamandhi-ram and the mother and baby are doing well,” she told Deccan Chronicle.
They would be shifted to Thriruvananthapuram for more care and protection, she added.
The girl, a class X student, would be given the opportunity to continue with her education, she said.
The girl’s father, Anandhan, 47, a rubber tapper, who was arrested by the police for committing the heinous act has been sent to the Pathanamthitta district jail after he confessed to the crime before the court.
He reportedly took advantage of his teenage daughter while the rest of the family was away attending a wedding.
She had been confined to the house by her family ever since and although they had tried to have her aborted, doctors had refused to help out of concern for her health. Social activist M.B. Prabhavathi, who visited the girl and her child at Kozhancheri Mahilamandhiram, has offered to help her in every way possible.