It was a busy week for the crime investigation team attached to the Valiv police team when they received information about a newborn baby found abandoned in a pile of grass at the foot of a hill in Vagharalpada area of Vasai (East) . On July 21 at about 7 in the morning. While a case was registered against unknown persons under IPC section 317 (exposing a child under the age of 12 years with the intention of wholly abandoning him by a parent or person taking care of him).
The newborn was immediately taken to the hospital. Understanding the sensitivity of the matter, a team led by Senior Police Inspector- Kailash Barve not only traced the mother, who turned out to be a 15-year-old school-going minor girl, but also arrested the 24-year-old youth. was responsible for getting her pregnant.
How did the police trace the child’s mother?
With a list of addresses of new mothers provided by the maternity wards of private hospitals and public health centres, the police team swept the area to check if the newborns were with their mothers and the local ASHA to get some clues. And also questioned the Anganwadi volunteers.
After a relentless search of over a week, the police team finally traced the mother who was a 15-year-old minor girl who had gone out of her house after experiencing labor pain and delivered the child. Leaving the newborn on the slope of the hill, she returned home.
Notably, her parents, who are daily wage workers, claimed that they neither knew about their daughter’s pregnancy, nor about the delivery, police said. “We immediately arranged medical treatment for the girl and started investigation which led to the arrest of the accused Pankaj Ramvinay Sahu (24) within 12 hours.” Barve said.
Rape case registered against child’s father
Sahu, who was arrested from the Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway in Vasai, has been booked for repeated rape under relevant sections of the IPC and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, 2012.
The girl, who has two younger siblings, knew the accused. Further investigation is on, police said, adding that the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has been informed about the matter.
