The baby had died soon after the delivery and the ‘mother’, who’s also battling between life and death,  is receiving treatment at the Diyathalawa Hospital, police told ‘Asian Mirror’.

The girl, according to Police, had been raped on several occasions by her brother in law. Both her parents are estate workers in the hill country and the girl had deserted the school some time ago due to economic hardships.

The Ministry of Health said this was a matter that should be taken into serious consideration as a girl of 14 is not in any way prepared, both physically and mentally, to give birth to a child.

According to the Family Health Bureau (FHB) statistics, on average, 20,000 females below the age of 20 become pregnant each year. the main reasons behind such incidents are poverty, alcoholism, unstable family relationships and lack of proper sex education. However, early teen pregnancy should be differentiated from the general problem of teen pregnancy, a senior spokesman of the Health Ministry told 'Asian Mirror'.

Incidents of child Pregnancy are mostly reported  in areas such as Batticaloa, Puttalam, Anuradhapura and Colombo with Batticaloa reporting 11.2%, Puttalam 9.6%, Anuradhapura 8.5% and Colombo 6.7%.