'Unclaimed': Arisha's short-lived journey cut off by measles

The death certificate has a "police case" label on it. She is going to be buried as "unclaimed." Such is the fate of one-year-old Arisha, who died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Thursday from measles and pneumonia.

Arisha was one year, two months, and seven days old. Now her body lies in the morgue. No autopsy; no family.

Her short life began in abandonment. It ended the same way.

This morning she woke up weak and ill. She was given milk to regain strength, but her situation worsened quickly. By the time she was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, she was already gone.

Arisha was looked after at Chhotomoni Nibash in Dhaka’s Azimpur – a state-run shelter for abandoned children.

The shelter's deputy superintendent, Jubli Begum, said, "We rescued her from Rajbari’s Pangsha when she was barely a month old. At that time, she was in the lap of a woman with mental disability. When we asked her where she got the baby from, she could not say much. All we could gather from her was that she found the baby somewhere in Kamlapur."

She recalled that Arisha was weak from the beginning; her head was unusually large.

She had been ill since last Sunday, treated with the medicine prescribed by doctors, Jubli added.

Police confirmed that her burial will take place without an autopsy. Anjuman Mufidul Islam will carry out the burial procedures.

An unnatural death case is being processed.

“As the child has no family, the death certificate carries a police case seal,” said SI Md Abdus Selim Miah of Lalbagh Police Station.

“She had been suffering from measles, pneumonia, and other illnesses. She was brought to the hospital on Thursday after her condition became critical. Doctors declared her dead after she was taken to the hospital,” he said.

CID forensic officials have collected DNA samples in case someone comes forward to claim her.