18-yr-old rape victim traced for dumping newborn

In August, when the woman realised that she was four months pregnant, her relative took her to the municipal hospital for an abortion but the hospital authorities refused to go ahead with the procedure.

Mumbai: A 18-year-old woman was traced on Tuesday for allegedly abandoning her newborn baby inside a building in Kandivali (East) on October 27. The police said that the woman was a minor when she got pregnant, seven months ago, after she was raped by one of her relatives. The accused is absconding at present.

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Narendra Shinde, senior police inspector, at Samta Nagar police station, said the teenager was brought to Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh by a woman related to her by promising her a job two years ago. The teenager stayed with the woman when a relative raped her under the pretext of marrying her in April.

In August, when the woman realised that she was four months pregnant, her relative took her to the municipal hospital for an abortion but the hospital authorities refused to go ahead with the procedure.

On October 27, she went to the neighbouring building to walk and delivered the baby girl on the stairs of the building. The woman then cut the umbilical cord and fled from the spot, leaving the child on the stairs.

“The locals heard the baby crying and reported the matter to the police. We reached the spot and rescued the girl who was left there without even tying her umbilical cord in a knot,” said Shinde.

The police officers then admitted the baby to Shatabdi Hospital and began scanning footage of the CCTV cameras installed in the vicinity of the building to find out who had abandoned the baby.

The police then identified the teenager and reached her house and detained her. “The child’s mother has been detained. Now, we are trying to trace the woman’s relative who has been booked for rape under relevant sections of the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act,” said Shinde.