E-Paper
18-year-old dumps stillborn baby at Panchkula civil hospital
The woman identified herself as Anjana from Shimla and said she had delivered the baby en route to the hospital
An 18-year-old woman abandoned her stillborn baby at the Sector 6 civil hospital in Panchkula on Saturday night, making it the second such incident at the same hospital in the last two weeks.
As per the police, two women had come to the newborn ward with a dead baby. The woman identified herself as Anjana from Shimla and said she had delivered the baby en route to the hospital. After pleading with the authorities to file paperwork later, she was admitted to the labour ward.
However, on the pretext of using the washroom, the two women left the labour ward around 9pm and didn’t come back, abandoning the dead baby. Police said the hospital staff had been suspicious of the two from the start as they appeared to be hiding something, but had admitted them because of the urgency of the situation.
A case under Section 318 (concealment of birth by secret disposal of dead body) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at the Sector 5 police station against the woman.
As per station house officer Rajeev Kumar, the incident was a result of lapses on the hospital’s part: “The hospital shouldn’t have admitted the girl without proper paperwork. They also need better security guards to prevent incidents from happening.” The police are looking at the CCTV footage to trace the two women.
PREVIOUS INCIDENT
A similar case took place on August 28 at the same hospital, where a dead baby was found dumped in a flush. The umbilical cord along with the placenta was still attached to the infant’s body, and the mother, accompanied by a man and woman, had escaped on the pretext of using the washroom.
