Eight-day-old girl abandoned in auto, driver alerts cops

MUMBAI: An autorickshaw driver from Vasai received the shock of his life after he found an abandoned eight-day-old girl on the passengers’ seat of his vehicle on

MUMBAI: An autorickshaw driver from Vasai received the shock of his life after he found an abandoned eight-day-old girl on the passengers’ seat of his vehicle on Sunday evening.

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“I parked my auto near the entrance and waited inside the depot. An hour later, when I returned with my parents who were visiting from our home town in Uttar Pradesh, I was shocked to find a baby — wrapped in a piece of cloth— on the passengers’ seat of the auto,” said Sunil Bhil, 35, adding, “The baby was asleep. I immediately alerted the nearby police constable. He suggested we hand over the child to the officers at Maickpur police station. So we went to the police station and did the needful.”

COP SPEAKS

Inspector Anil Patil from Manickpur police station said they rushed the child to Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Municipal General Hospital, also known as Shatabdi hospital, Kandivli, for a medical check-up and will send it to Ashalaya, a children’s home in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, on Tuesday after seeking court’s permission.

“We have registered a case under Section 317 (abandonment of child) of the IPC against an unidentified woman. Looks like it was an unwanted pregnancy,” he said.

Patil added that police officers are checking all the maternity homes in the vicinity to find out if anyone had delivered a girl in the past one week or opted to give birth at home, so that they could get leads about the child’s biological mother. He also appreciated Bhil’s efforts of contacting the police.