Court issues guidelines to curb missing baby cases

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday framed guidelines which are to be implemented in the municipal-run, semi-government and government hospitals in Maharashtra to ensure that infant is stolen from hospitals in the state.

The court’s new guidelines will ensure that no infant is stolen from hospitals in the state.

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The Bombay High Court on Wednesday framed guidelines which are to be implemented in the municipal-run, semi-government and government hospitals in Maharashtra.

The division bench of Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice R.G. Ketkar framed the guidelines with assistance from Advocate General Ravi Kadam, Public Prosecutor Satish Borulkar and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) counsels K.K. Singhvi and Anil Sakhare.

Sandhya Kamat, dean of Sion Hospital, too was present in the court. The court framed the guidelines after the case of baby theft at the BMC-run Lokmanya Tilak Hospital (Sion hospital) in January.

Mohini and Mohan Nerurkar had filed a habeas corpus (produce the person in court) petition in the high court after their three-day old son went missing. The infant was stolen from the hospital’s maternity ward when Mohini allegedly went to the rest room, asking a stranger woman to look after her baby.

One of the 234 remedial measures to be implemented by the hospitals is installation of a computerised biometrics system — this would record footprints, fingerprints and birthmarks, if any, within two hours of the child’s birth or admission.
Singhvi said they have already implemented the biometric system at the Sion Hospital but need at least nine months to implement it in other civic hospitals. The court has given them six months to implement the biometric system.

The court has kept the hearing for August 10. The BMC and the state have to inform about the progress in implementation of the guidelines.