Woman dumps infant on Marine Drive

Bisnu S Sutar who was witness to the entire episode narrated it to the police: Around 7 am he saw a lady emerge from a green coloured Maruti 1000 near the flyover with a loosely packed plastic bag, which she hurriedly dropped on the side of the road, to zip away in her car.

“I picked up the bag thinking that it was garbage. But I was shocked on hearing the sounds of a baby crying," told Bishnu to the Azad Maidan police. After this, he immediately approached his relative Radha Kaliappa who also lives on a nearby footpath and handed over the baby to her. Radha took the baby and rushed to the Azad Maidan police station. The police have filed a case under Section 317 of the Indian Penal code (IPC) and admitted the baby to Cama Hospital for treatment.

The sub-inspector of police, at the Azad Maidan Police station, Sivaji Sonawane told Express Newsline, that it was a male child that luckily survived, "for it could have stopped breathing in first few hours as usually happens in such a case". Despite receiving several injuries, the baby is in a normal condition. "Had it reached the hospital a little late it could have been dead," said Sonawane.

He further added, "Many such cases are reported, but in most cases the babies are found dead, in which case they are registered under Section 318 of the IPC, which amounts to murder of a nascent baby. But this is a rare case, where the baby has been brought to the police station for safety."Another sub-inspector, Avinash Kanade said, “This is a case of serious offence under Section 317 of the IPC, and amounts to denying parental care to a baby below the age of 13. If the guilty is nabbed, there could be a seven-year imprisonment."

"Though we have not yet got the number of the car, we have the model and colour and it will help us in laying a trap for the culprit," he asserted. "It is a dreadful act against humanity and those who can give any detail on the case must approach us so to help us nab the guilty."

An Express Newsline photographer was refused permission to take a picture of the infant, as he was under the protection of the authorities of the Cama Hospital, nor could this reporter ascertain the health of the baby from the doctors, though the police maintain that it has just about survived.