Delhi couple arrested for abandoning 4-month-old who ‘cried too much’

Based on a tip-off, police eventually managed to track down Mobina and her husband Irshad Ali (33). (Representational)

A couple have been arrested for allegedly abandoning their four-month-old baby on the Mehrauli-Badarpur road in southeast Delhi, said police. Eighteen-year-old Mobina Khatoon allegedly abandoned her daughter around 6 pm on Friday in the jungle behind the Hanuman temple on MB Road, said a senior police officer who probed the case. A police team patrolling the area found the child and decided to look after her till they could find her parents.

The police team also spread information about the child, whom they named Dakshina, using social media as well as electronic media. Based on a tip-off, police eventually managed to track down Mobina and her husband Irshad Ali (33).

During questioning, Mobina told police that the child, Nagma, was from her first marriage. After her husband left her, she married Ali. “Ali was irritated with the baby as she used to cry a lot. He even threatened to kill the child and pressured Mobina to abandon her,” a police officer said.

Police said the child has been handed over to an NGO and will be produced before a child welfare committee on Monday. Both the accused will be produced in court tomorrow.