A man digging a grave in northern India found a newborn girl buried alive, police said Monday, in the latest case of female infanticide in the country.

Hitesh Sirohi, a villager from northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, had gone to bury his own daughter, who died a few minutes after birth on Wednesday, when his spade happened to hit an earthen pot, according to the local police. "When he noticed a newborn girl inside it, he immediately rescued her and dialed for help," the police said. 

Sirohi told the Times of India he found the baby wrapped in a cloth and crying. "At one point I thought that my daughter had come alive. But the voice was actually coming from the pot," he told the newspaper.

The newborn was taken to a hospital where she is receiving medical care, police said, adding that a local politician was paying for the expenses. 

India has long struggled with female infanticide, which has become widespread because of parents' preferences for sons, who are viewed as investments and heirs, while girls are seen as a liability.

India is trying to bridge the sex ratio gap with tough laws, as the country fares badly with 940 females for every 1,000 males, according to the 2011 census.

A 2011 study in the British medical journal The Lancet found that up to 12 million girls had been aborted in the last three decades in India. 

(With input from AFP)