Patna: An hours-old, critically ill baby died on Monday in an ambulance that took more than two hours to traverse a distance of around 35km to a hospital, thanks to traffic snarls sparked by those enforcing the all-India bandh against the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The baby boy was born on Monday morning at the primary health centre in Vaishali district's Mahnar block, around 52km north of Patna. Soon after, he developed asphyxia - a medical condition resulting in oxygen deprivation. The primary health centre doctors referred him to the Vaishali sadar hospital around 8.45am. The ambulance carrying the newborn could reach the sadar hospital only around 11am, and the baby was declared brought dead to the hospital.

Mohammad Qadil Kumar, the baby's maternal grandfather, was inconsolable.

"The Bharat bandh took away my grandson's life," he said. "What can be more painful than this? We celebrated the new arrival in the family this morning and within hours my grandson died. The bandh supporters should be put behind bars because they have taken the life of a newborn. The cops should also be punished as they have failed to ensure smooth traffic."

Vaishali sadar hospital is around 35km from the Mahnar primary health centre and it usually takes around 45 minutes to reach, said Vaishali civil surgeon Dr I.D. Ranjan.

"However, it took the ambulance carrying the infant more than two hours to complete the journey," he said. "I got a report from the sadar hospital in which they stated that the ambulance was stopped at several places during the bandh. As per the report, the infant had to be referred to Vaishali sadar hospital because it has a neonatal intensive care unit where the infant's condition could have been managed."

Ranjan, however, maintained that the baby's condition was serious.

Mahnar police station house officer (SHO) Abhay Kumar said bandh supporters had stopped the ambulance at two places, Ambedkar Chowk and Sultanpur.

The SHO added: "It is true that the ambulance carrying the newborn got stuck at many places due to the bandh but it is equally true that the baby's condition was very serious and so it cannot be said that he lost his life because his ambulance got stuck at many places."

Monday's bandh - against the Supreme Court ruling that has come in for criticism as "dilution" of the law to prevent atrocities against the downtrodden - drew widespread response in Bihar.