Baby kidnapped from Rohini hospital to win partner’s family’s acceptance, say police

The woman wanted to flee to Unnao with her 22-year-old partner, leaving her family behind. However, to ensure that the two were accepted by his family, they decided to steal an infant to show that they were married and had a child

A day after a 40-year-old woman and her 22-year-old partner were arrested for allegedly stealing a three-day-old baby boy from Rohini’s Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, police said the woman needed the child to show the man’s family in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao that they were married and had a child together to ensure his family accepted them.

The kidnapped three-day-old baby has been reunited with its mother. (Representational image)

Deputy commissioner of police (Rohini) Rajiv Ranjan said the kidnapping came to light around 9am on Tuesday after the infant’s mother discovered both her baby and the woman missing from the ward.

The child’s father immediately alerted police. A team reached the spot and learnt that the 30-year-old mother, a Narela resident, was admitted to the hospital on February 12 and delivered a male child on February 14. The mother was staying at the hospital for post-delivery care and, during this time, a woman in her 30s repeatedly visited her, gained her trust and offered help with caring for the baby.

Police said that around 5am on February 17, the woman took the newborn in her arms and asked the mother to go back to sleep. When the mother woke up three hours later, the woman and the child had vanished, Ranjan said.

An FIR was registered at North Rohini police station, following which hospital staff and security personnel were questioned and CCTV footage examined.

Police said the accused woman was identified with the help of CCTV footage from the hospital, and officers obtained her phone number from another woman in the ward who had incidentally used the accused’s phone to call her husband. “We got in touch with that woman’s husband, obtained the accused’s number from him and tracked her down,” the officer said.

Police traced her to a village near the Delhi–Meerut Expressway, where she was waiting with a man and the baby to board a bus to Unnao. The two accused were arrested, and the 22-year-old man was identified as Ahibaran Saxena from Unnao. Police did not reveal the name of the woman, except to say that she hailed from Siraspur in north-west Delhi.

During questioning, the accused woman allegedly told police that she is married and has two children — a 14-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy. “She said she met Saxena around a year and a half ago in Siraspur, where they worked together, and the two fell in love. She wanted to flee to Unnao with him, leaving her family behind. However, to ensure that the two were accepted by Saxena’s family, they decided to steal an infant to show that they were married and had a child,” the officer said.