Father held for abandoning newborn girl in Jalandhar
THE 20DAYOLD GIRL WAS DIAGNOSED WITH A CONGENITAL DEFECT IN HER FOOT; ACCUSED SAYS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO RAISE HER DUE TO POVERTY
JALANDHAR: A man was arrested on Wednesday for abandoning his 20-day-old daughter after she was reportedly diagnosed with a congenital defect in her foot.
The infant, wrapped in a piece of cloth, was found lying on a footpath near the Jyoti Chowk area here early morning by the police control room (PCR) during routine patrol.
The accused identified as Rahul of Preet Nagar is a labourer and has two children — a boy and a girl.
Division number 4 station house officer (SHO) Sukhdev Singh said they checked the records at the Civil Hospital, where the girl was born on September 7 and traced the accused Rahul.
“Rahul told us that the girl has a defect in her foot and he belongs to a poor family due to which he would not be able to raise her. Moreover, he said he already has two children,” the SHO said.
Police said while leaving the home on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, Rahul told his wife that he was going to see a doctor at Civil Hospital for his daughter’s treatment.
A case was registered under Section 317 (exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years, by parent or person having the care of it) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at division number 4 police station on the complaint of assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Jagdish Singh.
THIRD INCIDENT IN A MONTH
This is the third incident in a month where an infant was found abandoned.
A seven-day-old girl was found abandoned in bushes at Kalia colony on Saturday.
On September 2, a newborn was found dead in the washroom of Shahkot’s civil hospital.
There are two shelter homes under the Pangura scheme in Jalandhar — Nari Niketan and Unique Home — which are being run with the support of district administration and provide providential support to parents who are unable to bring up children on their own.