Abandoned newborn’s mother turns out to be 13-yr-old ‘rape victim’

CHILD WELFARE PANEL HEAD SAYS PVT DOCTOR, WHO DELIVERED THE CHILD, DIDN’T INFORM POLICE AS MANDATED UNDER THE LAW

ROHTAK: Three days after a newborn girl was found abandoned on roadside in old city area in Rohtak, the police have been able to trace her mother: a 13-year-old girl who was allegedly raped and impregnated.

The police said no one in the family of the victim apprehended she was sexually assaulted and had been pregnant for the past nine months. The Class 7 student had been attending the government school as usual and her family and teachers did not suspect anything serious despite physical changes in her body. Her parents, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, work as labourers in Rohtak.

The police said the victim was admitted at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences and was being given counselling by the child welfare committee (CWC). “She is in trauma and her statement could not be recorded, due to which no case has been filed as of now,” said Rajesh Kumar, SHO of Old Sabzi Mandi police station.

Rohtak CWC president Dr Raj Singh Sangwan, whose team has been giving counselling to the victim and her parents, said he has learnt that a private doctor delivered the child of the 13-year-old girl. The doctor did not inform the police as mandated under the law, Sangwan said. “After the delivery, the shocked parents of the victim abandoned the newborn,” he added.

“The newborn was found along a roadside ditch near the victim’s house. After some interrogation, the police were able to trace the mother and found she was a 13-year-old girl. We admitted the girl and her newborn to hospital and both are doing fine now,” he said.

Sangwan, however, said the parents of the victim were scared of the involvement of police and were not cooperating in investigation. “We have not been able to trace the accused as the victim and her family are not talking. We are assuring them that they have not made any mistake, but they are frightened,” he said.

The neighbours of the victim suspect it to be a youth who lived on rent in the same house as victim’s family. He has left the place some months ago, they have told the police. The SHO, however, said there has been no confirmation.