Prompt response and efforts by the Delhi Police reunited a four-month-old girl child with her mother within 24 hours. The child was abandoned by her mother near an under-construction building in South Delhi’s Fatehpur Beri area on Tuesday last. The girl’s mother soon realised her folly and thanked police for their swift action. According to police, the woman was upset as she had a marital discord with her husband and was living separately. She left the child near a temple as she was finding it difficult to rear the child. She later told police that she took the decision under compulsion of financial hardship.
The girl child, who was lying inside an under-construction building near a temple in Aya Nagar, was noticed by a passerby on Tuesday night. He alerted the PCR (Police Control Room) van patrolling in the area. The PCR rushed to the spot and found the girl wrapped in a white towel. They also took the help of child welfare committee so that the girl could be fed properly. A case under section 317 (exposure and abandonment of child under 12 years, by parent or person having care of it) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was also registered at Fatehpur Beri police station. A special team from the police station immediately swung into action. They alerted the nearby police stations and conducted search in locality to trace the child’s parent. They also pasted the photo of the toddler in locality. “During the search operation we got a lead with the help of our beat constable. Seeing the photo a person came forward and claimed that he knew the toddler’s mother,” said the officer, adding, “When a team sent to the woman’s house she was not present.”
Taking the investigations ahead, police managed to reach to the child’s father who lives in Chhatarpur area. He reportedly told the police that his wife was upset due to their marital discord. The couple got separated following their regular fights a month ago. The police also took the child to her father who identified her.
The police asked the man to call up his wife. “The woman told the police that she was looking for her child. She was upset, as her husband refused to take her daughter. So, she abandoned her under duress but soon realised she committed a big mistake,” the officer said. The woman also told the police that she had anticipated that something wrong might have happened with her child. She also visited the place in the night where she had left her daughter but she could not locate her baby. Police said that the further investigations were under progress.