Lipi Begum with the premature baby she found on April 7 at a garbage dumpsite near DIT playground in Fatullah of Naraynganj. Photo: Star

On that windy Friday evening, Marzina Begum was walking past a roadside dumpsite when she heard the sound of crying, but she dismissed it as the wailing of a cat. On her way back, she heard it again, and discovered a baby in a polythene bag.

When she gathered people around the dumpsite, in DIT playground area of Narayanganj's Fatullah upazila, Lipi Begum was one of those who rushed in and was the first person to take the baby girl into her arms.

For Lipi, it felt like a gift from God. A mother of a 16-year-old son, she has long been expecting a daughter.

Lipi and her husband Alamgir Hossain, an electric technician, took the girl to Naryanganj General Hospital the same day, April 7, and admitted her.

Later the couple filed a general diary (GD) with Fatullah Model Police Station.

“I used to pray to Allah for a daughter, to no avail. Now I have got a daughter. It doesn't matter where I got her from,” Lipi told the correspondent yesterday.

Alamgir said they informed police immediately after rescuing the baby and would appeal to the court to adopt her.

The couple brought the infant home from the hospital on Sunday.

Dr Iqbal Bahar, health and family planning officer of the hospital, said it was a premature baby born after eight months in the womb.

She had fever because she was not fed breast milk immediately after her birth, he said, adding that but it was not a major problem, and the girl was recovering.

Lipi said they would give a name to the baby through a ceremony.

Kamal Uddin, officer-in-charge of the police station, said the couple would get priority to get the baby because they demanded her first and treated her, but they would have to appeal to the district magistrate's court.

Police will submit an investigation report on the appeal, and then the court will decide whether the couple will be able to adopt the baby, he said.