A nurse at a government hospital in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan has been accused of decapitating a baby during a difficult delivery, local media reported.

The male nurse was said to have "pulled too hard" during the birth on Sunday (Jan 6), the Hindustan Times reported on Thursday.

The male nurse and his colleague took the baby's torso to the hospital mortuary and told the family to take the mother to another hospital.

At the second hospital, doctors operated on her and found the baby's head in her womb. She is reportedly fighting for her life now.

The baby's father told India's English news channel Times Now on Thursday that hospital staff members failed to tell him about their mistake and even tried to hide the baby's body from him.

Indian police have filed a case against the nurses for causing death by negligence and the act of endangering life or personal safety.

In June last year, a British gynaecologist was found guilty of medical misconduct, after she accidentally decapitated an unborn baby in the womb.

Dr Vaishnavy Laxman, 43, had tried to carry out a natural delivery for a 30-year-old mother at a Dundee hospital in March 2014, despite the fact that the premature infant had been in a breech position.

A medical tribunal ruled that Dr Laxman should have performed an emergency caesarean section instead.