Nurse held on murder charges as self-delivery kills child

CHENNAI: Three days after she was booked for self-delivering a child eventually leading to its death, City Police arrested the 24-yearold nurse on Saturday night on murder charges.

On April 30, W Vinisha who was seven months pregnant delivered a baby girl in the washroom of her hostel in

T Nagar and allegedly chopped off the infant’s legs. Her hostel mate who heard the cries rescued both of them and took them to a hospital where the child was declared brought dead. Vinisha kept maintaining that the child was stillborn.

Police said that the nurse hailing from Kanniyakumari was working in a private hospital in T Nagar and was staying at the staff quarters on South

Boag Road.

Police investigations revealed she had hidden pregnancy from her colleagues. She was in a relationship with a software professional and had ended the relationship a few months ago. However, when she realised about being pregnant, she unsuccessfully attempted to abort.

During the early hours of April 30, she had locked herself in the washroom and tried to self-deliver the child by performing an episiotomy procedure. “In the process, she cut off the child’s legs and flushed one leg down the toilet before taking the baby out,” police said.

Her hostel mate who went to check on her found the nurse lying in a pool of blood and the child in a bucket.

One of the child’s legs was on the bathroom floor. She alerted others in the hostel and moved them to hospital. Police were alerted after which a team recovered the child’s body and sent it for post-mortem. Mambalam police booked a case under Sections 315 (Act done with intent to prevent child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth) and 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information) of IPC against Vinisha.

After autopsy, police altered the sections to 302 (murder) IPC and arrested the woman. She was produced before a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody.

Police said that the nurse hailing from Kanniyakumari was working in a private hospital in T Nagar and was staying at the staff quarters