Newborn found with placenta on Pulikeshi Road; Police trace 40-year-old mother
Mysuru: Fear of social stigma drove a 40-year-old woman to abandon her newborn baby girl on Pulikeshi Road. The Mandi Mohalla Police have solved the case through CCTV footage and subsequent investigation.
The case comes close on the heels of another disturbing incident reported in the same Mandi Police limits.
On June 12, a four-month-old female foetus was found on Bada Makan Main Road after being pushed out of an overflowing drain. Police are yet to trace the mother in that case and suspect the foetus may have been dumped following a miscarriage or disposed of in the drain after an illegal abortion.
In the Pulakeshi Road case, on June 14, a Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) contract worker, who cleans lorries for a living, had returned home after work and later set out on his motorcycle to refuel at a petrol station near Fountain Circle.
As he rode along Pulikeshi Road, near Mysuru Central Prison, via K.T. Street and Kabarsthan Junction towards Gumchi Circle around 4.15 pm, he noticed a crowd gathered near ‘Zam Zam Fish & Chicken Centre’ and stopped to see what had happened.
To his shock, he found a newborn baby girl lying on the roadside along with the placenta, apparently abandoned shortly after birth. He immediately alerted the 108 ambulance service, following which the infant was rushed to K.R. Hospital for treatment.
Police screen CCTV footage
Police from Mandi Station began examining CCTV footage from the area and soon identified the mother (name withheld to protect identity), a resident of Kyathamaranahalli. Her husband works as a daily wage labourer. The CCTV footage showed her throwing the baby from an autorickshaw.
Investigators traced the autorickshaw through its registration number and located the driver, whose statement helped the Police identify and trace the woman. During questioning, the woman admitted abandoning the child and said she had acted out of fear of public ridicule.
“I am 40 years old. I already have a 21-year-old son and two daughters aged 14 and 13. My son is married. If people knew I had another baby at this age, society would ridicule me. I couldn’t face that,” she reportedly told investigators.
Delivery in autorickshaw
Police investigations revealed that the delivery had taken place inside the autorickshaw itself. The 71-year-old driver was unaware that the woman was in labour, as she had concealed her labour pains during the journey.
According to investigators, the baby was born while the autorickshaw was moving. Soon after the delivery, the woman threw the newborn, along with the placenta, onto the roadside without the driver’s knowledge.
Authorities have served the woman with a legal notice and registered a case against her. However, the Police said, she cannot be remanded to either Police or Judicial Custody under the existing legal provisions governing such offences.
Police have initiated the process for forensic examination and DNA testing of the mother and child. Officials said, the DNA results will form part of the evidence before a formal charge-sheet is filed in a Court of Law.
Meanwhile, investigations continue into the June 12 foetus recovery case, with Police working to identify mother and establish the circumstances under which the foetus was disposed of.
