Woman, who abducted newborn from Noida hospital, had lost her baby: Cops
The woman, Rani, who goes by a single name, was under pressure from her in-laws following two previous miscarriages
A 22-year-old woman, undergoing treatment after a miscarriage at the ESIC Hospital in Noida’s Sector 24, kidnapped a newborn boy from the facility last week, police officers familiar with the matter said on Thursday, adding that the woman was arrested and the baby rescued.
The woman, Rani, who goes by a single name, was under pressure from her in-laws following two previous miscarriages, and hid the recent miscarriage and claimed the abducted child as her own, said officers associated with the case. Rani’s husband is a daily wage labourer, said officers.
While she was getting treatment at the Employees’ Standard Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital, another woman, Ishrat (known by a single name), 25, who is from Ghaziabad, was admitted there on May 23 during labour.
Ishrat and her husband Tanveer, live in Ghaziabad’s Khoda Colony and are originally from Bihar, said investigators.
Rani, who had hid her recent miscarriage from her in-laws, spotted Ishrat’s newborn son and decided to take him along, said investigators.
On May 24, a day after she gave birth to a boy, Ishrat woke up to find her newborn missing from the crib adjacent to her bed at the hospital.
After she raised the alarm, the police arrived at the hospital. “A complaint was filed at Sector 24 police station under Section 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code,” said Harish Chander, Deputy Commissioner of Police Noida.
When they checked the CCTV footage at the hospital, investigators saw Rani making off with the baby.
“Over the last week, we scanned more than 300 CCTV cameras and created a sketch of the woman. When we checked the CCTV of a mall in Sector 75 on Thursday, we saw Rani taking a baby towards the Salarpur area in an auto. When a team arrived at lane number 4 in Sector 101 Salarpur, they checked the CCTV of a mobile phone shop, and the woman was seen carrying the baby inside the lane,” Chander said.
The officer said that when the teams showed the woman’s sketch and asked around, people in the area recognised her and gave her address in Bhangel village.
“A team went to the address of Rani in Bhangel and found her with the baby. Rani was arrested, and the baby was returned to the family. During questioning, she revealed that she married at least two-and-a-half years ago. She had two miscarriages, and her in-laws were pressuring her to have a baby or else they would marry off her husband to someone else,” said assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Sushil Kumar Ganga Prashad.
Amit Kumar Tomar, station house officer at Sector 24 police station, said that Rani was under treatment for a miscarriage at ESIC Hospital for the past several months, and police have discovered her OPD card from the time she was getting treatment there.
“She informed her in-laws that her child is in the hospital’s intensive care unit. On May 24, she saw Ishrat’s baby and took him along,” Prasad said. Tomar added, “At the time of the incident, Rani was accompanied by her sister’s daughter.”
Rani is from Bihar and lives in Bhangel village in Gautam Budh Nagar in rented housing, said police officers.
Meanwhile, Ishrat said that they had initially given up hope.
“This is my third child, and only I know how I spent these last few days. I had given up after a few days, but now I’m thankful to the police and ask them to punish the woman for kidnapping my child,” Ishrat said.
On Thursday, the child’s parents celebrated the rescue of their newborn baby by distributing sweets to police officers at the Sector 24 police station.