Journalism of Courage
THE ARREST of two women and apprehension of a minor girl for abandoning a male child, who was found dead, is an isolated case in which cops managed to trace the culprits in the last year and a half, a scrutiny of police record suggests.
At least nine cases were registered following the recovery of foetuses in abandoned condition from different places, including inside hospitals such as GMSH-16 and GMCH-32. The police investigation reached the dead end in these cases and the identity of responsible persons is yet to be established.
As per the police records, seven cases out of nine were reported in the periphery areas and suburban areas of Chandigarh. These areas include Maloya, Dhanas, Mauli Jagran, Burail Sector 45, Kajheri and Mani Majra. Police lodged FIRs under Section 318 (secretly burying or otherwise disposing of the dead body of a child whether such child dies before or after or during its birth) of the IPC in these cases.
On January 6, a male foetus was found in the gutter of one of the CLR toilets attached with the gynaecology department in Government Multispeciality Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16.
The foetus appeared to be 14 to 16 weeks of gestation and with placenta.
In September 2021, a foetus was found in a dustbin placed near a washroom in the emergency ward of GMCH-32. newborn dead in mauli jagran: 2 arrested women remanded in judicial custody
Two women, including the mother of minor girl, and midwife, who had assisted the delivery of minor’s baby, were remanded in judicial
custody at Model Burail Jail Saturday.
The mother was arrested on March 24. Since then, she has been in police custody.
The midwife was arrested on March 22. The minor girl, who was named in the FIR, was lodged at a woman shelter home in Sector 26.
The women were arrested and the minor girl was booked in connection with the recovery of the abandoned body of a male child near Mauli Jagran in December 2021.
The woman and her minor daughter were identified for abandoning the newborn child following a positive mtDNA report from CFSL, Sector 36, last week.
A case was registered at Mauli Jagran police station.
The abandoned body of a child was found in the suburban area Mauli Jagran on December 4 last year.
The mtDNA samples of many people including the suspects were collected on December 8 last year.
