A father who dumped the body of his baby daughter outside a refuge for abandoned infants is to be prosecuted.

A public prosecutor at Guangzhou Intermediate People's Procuratorate said the man, surnamed Chen, had committed an offense.

Chen decided to abandon the baby in the capital of Guangdong province after she was born critically ill.

"Under the law, anyone who for any reason gives up rearing their baby has committed a crime," the prosecutor, who did not wish to be named, told China Daily on Wednesday.

Officials declined to give further details of the case, and no date has yet been set for a hearing.

Chen, 33, and his mother-in-law dumped the body, which was in a red plastic bag, on Feb 23 and left in a taxi.

Doctors who rushed to the scene found that the baby had died before it was abandoned. Police ruled out the possibility of homicide.

Chen, a migrant worker, was arrested at a maternity ward in a hospital in Guangzhou's Baiyun district the following day. The baby had been born on Feb 22.

"I had a discussion with my wife and mother-in-law and we agreed to abandon our first daughter because my wife and I could not afford expensive medical treatment for the baby," Chen said according to police.

Zhang Yiri, an associate professor of law at Guangzhou City Polytechnic, said it was right that Chen was being taken to court.

"Chen should not have decided to pass on his responsibilities to society after his daughter was born critically ill," Zhang said.

"He should have sought help from the social welfare department if he could not afford the medical expenses.

"Society would not be able to bear the burden and the pressure if other parents followed Chen's example."

Chen left the body outside a building that at the time housed Guangzhou's first baby hatch. The facility later closed because the staff could not cope with the number of infants left there.

The center opened on Jan 28, and by the time it shut on March 16, it had received 262 babies and children.

The baby hatch, in a busy downtown area, gave abandoned infants and children a temporary home.

Children aged 5 and 6 were among those left there. All those abandoned were either critically ill or disabled.

The facility, which cost 120,000 yuan ($19,500) to build, had a floor area of just 7 square meters and was equipped with cribs and incubators.

Chen Jili contributed to this story.

zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn