Guwahati, Oct 4 (IANS): A newborn infant, who had been pronounced dead by doctors at a private hospital in Assam’s Silchar town, was discovered to be alive just before being cremated.

The event took place early on Wednesday.

The child's father Ratan Das, 29, said that on Tuesday night he took his six-months pregnant wife to a private hospital in Silchar where the doctors informed them that the pregnancy was having problems and that they could save either the mother or the child.

"We gave them permission to deliver the baby, and they reported that my wife had given birth to a stillborn child. We received the dead body and death certificate on Wednesday morning,” he stated.

Das claimed that a parcel containing the deceased body was delivered.

"When we opened the packet before the cremation after arriving at the Silchar Crematorium, my toddler wa sobbing. We rushed to the hospital and the baby is receiving treatment," Das said.

Following that, a gathering of residents from Silchar's Malinibil neighborhood protested in front of the hospital.

Sujit Das Choudhary, a local citizen, claimed that the hospital staff kept the infant inside a packet for over eight hours like rubbish without even properly determining whether the child was still alive.

An FIR has been filed by the family members against the hospital and a doctor. Police, however, declined to comment. According to hospital authorities, the infant was held under observation for eight hours before being pronounced dead. “We repeatedly inspected the infant, but it remained unresponsive. We pronounced it dead in accordance with procedure and gave it to the family,” one of the hospital staff told reporters.