In an intensive care unit, a nurse soothes a crying baby rescued in a raid on a private Indian hospital that police suspect was selling abandoned newborns on the black market.

"She is too weak and needs special care," the nurse said, patting the girl born underweight and premature and receiving treatment at another hospital, run by the government.

"I pray a nice couple adopts her and raises her like their own," the nurse said in the central city of Gwalior.