A sessions court recently convicted an unmarried mother of concealing the birth of her child and disposing of the baby’s dead body, but acquitted her of the charges of murdering the baby.
While acquitting the mother of murder charges, the court said there was no proof that the baby was born alive and not stillborn.
As per the prosecution case, on August 4, 2020, the police received a message about a female infant at Gaurishankar Wadi in Ghatkopar. The baby was taken to Rajawadi Hospital but was declared dead on arrival.
During the investigation, the police found that the accused was hospitalised at Rajawadi Hospital. She was arrested and the police seized clothes and other articles from her house, where she gave birth to the child.
The investigation revealed that the woman concealed the pregnancy from her family and claimed that she was suffering from piles, back pain and irregular menstruation. It was further alleged that she had given birth to the infant at her residence. The prosecution claimed that the woman delivered the child on August 4, 2020, and caused its death by throwing the child out from her kitchen window.
The woman denied having delivered any child at home. However, the court noted that her family members had not cooperated with the trial. “An event of delivery of a child at the residence was bound to entail several noticeable activities at the residence. However, any such evidence is not forthcoming from the mouth of the family members,” the court said while referring to the DNA report, which confirmed that the accused was the mother of the deceased infant.
The court, however, noted that there was no evidence of the accused woman having murdered her child. “The child died after birth and then was thrown away. As such, it was the case of disposing of the child / infant who was already dead as per the prosecution case. Under such circumstances, it is not a case of causing death of the infant by throwing it from the window or from the height. If it was the dead body that was thrown away, it was not a case of murder of any alive infant,” the court said.
Hence, while holding the woman guilty of disposing of the dead body of the infant, it said observed that, “It needs to be observed that the accused, being the new mother of the infant, was responsible for the custody of the infant with herself. Finding such an infant lying at the public place is a circumstance which the accused was required to explain. The accused has not offered any explanation on such a point. The accused has exercised her right of silence on such an aspect; however, it would always lead to an inference adverse to her.”
