Mandvi toddler flinging case: Police find no case to support murder, molestation charges

MUMBAI: The conclusion of an investigation by the crime branch officials into the Mandvi child ‘flinging’ case which took place on December 10 has thrown a new light on claims made by the woman who said that her 10-month-old daughter was flung out of a running taxi after she resisted molestation by the taxi driver and three passengers

MUMBAI: The conclusion of an investigation by the crime branch officials into the Mandvi child ‘flinging’ case which took place on December 10 has thrown a new light on claims made by the woman who said that her 10-month-old daughter was flung out of a running taxi after she resisted molestation by the taxi driver and three passengers. The police, however, concluded after a probe that the child fell from the hands of the woman, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.

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The Nalasopara unit of the Mira-Bhayander Vasai-Virar (MBVV) crime branch also absolved all the accused of the molestation and murder charges.

The Nalasopara unit last week filed a chargesheet in Vasai court, dropping the names of all the passengers from the list of accused and have decided to charge the taxi driver for causing death by negligence – as he did not insist the woman on wearing a seat belt and had not taken measures to safeguard the child.

The Mandvi police had registered a murder case after the 19-year-old woman claimed that while travelling in a taxi from Pelhar to Manor, she was molested by passengers and the driver of the taxi and while resisting the attacks, her 10-month-old daughter, was flung from the cab near Mandvi on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway on December 10.

The driver told the police that the woman had folded both her legs on the seat and her two bags were kept below the seat. The baby girl was playing on her lap. Immediately after boarding the cab, the woman requested the driver to give her his cell phone to call her husband. Since she had been insisting to call her husband, the driver gave her his mobile phone, but the call did not go through as she had dialled only nine digits.

The driver who then tried the number heard the woman scream that her baby had fallen off. A highway patrolling officer who was behind the cab stopped and with the help of the driver and passengers rushed the woman and the kid to the hospital.

After investigating for more than three months, the crime branch officers concluded that the allegations made by the woman were false after conducting a psychological test on the driver, Vijay Prasad Mahavir Kushwaha, who was arrested in the case. “The polygraph test results concluded that he (Kushwaha) had not committed any crime. Based on the results, he was granted bail by the court on February 10,” said police inspector Pramod Badhak from the Nalasopara crime branch.

“My father, although shattered, knew that his conscience was clear. He will not get back the two months of his life that he spent in jail, but life goes on. He has started driving on the route again,” said Roshan Khushwaha, the driver’s son.

Police officers said that they had also requested the woman to undergo psychological tests, but she refused to give her consent. The woman has, however, appeared before a judicial magistrate and confessed that she was ‘scared’ and that she had created a false narrative, but her intention was not to implicate the driver or anyone else. “The woman said she just wanted to save her marriage as she would have been blamed for the child’s death (as it fell from her hands from the running taxi),” said an officer from the crime branch.

During interrogation, the driver told us that he was taking a turn after the woman boarded the car from Pelhar junction. After travelling for around two kilometres he realised that the child had fallen and saw the woman open the door on her side and jump off – perhaps in an attempt to save her daughter. “The driver said he had immediately stopped the car and had given her his phone to make a call,” said the police officer.

During the course of the investigation, the police traced two of the four passengers who were sitting on the back seats of the cab. The two passengers confirmed that the woman was lying – that the child had fallen off her hand and not flung and that she was not molested by any of the passengers.

The police found CCTV camera footage of the road where one of the missing passengers was seen holding the baby after the incident. “The reaction of the man was clearly visible that he was trying to help the woman and her baby,” added the officer who has seen the CCTV footage.

Police officers said that they also examined the possibility of the child being flung out of the moving car using technical details – depending on the distance of the child from the car and found the details were contrary to the woman’s claims. “The way the baby had fallen indicated that she slipped off her mother’s grip and fell down,” said the officer.

Khushwaha is now seeking to be charged with causing death by negligence under section 304 of the Indian Penal Code, as he had not taken adequate safety measures for a baby to travel in his cab and he did not insist the woman sitting next to the driver’s seat to wear a seatbelt.