Delhi court convicts couple for abandoning premature infant to die in hospital

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has convicted a couple for abandoning their premature and medically vulnerable infant in a hospital here, saying that as her parents, they were under an obligation to care for the child.

Additional Sessions Judge Sunil Kumar rejected the defence contention that leaving the infant in a specialised medical facility showed an intention to provide treatment rather than abandon her, saying, "The essence of the offence is leaving/exposing the child with intention of wholly abandoning the child.”

The judge noted that the girl was born prematurely at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital on December 12, 2014 and was admitted to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) as she was underweight and suffering from medical complications.

“Their failure to resume care even after the child was discharged from the NICU and repeated efforts were made to contact them indicated their intention to wholly abandon her,” the judge said in an order passed on September 10.

The court relied on the DNA report, which established that Hareena and Jeetu were the biological mother and father of the deceased child.

According to the prosecution, the parents left the hospital and did not return to care for the infant despite repeated efforts to contact them. The infant was subsequently handed over to Nirmal Chhaya for care on March 12, 2015, where she died a few days later.

The court convicted the parents under Section 317 (exposure and abandonment of child under 12 years by parent or person having care of it), which carries a jail term of up to seven years, a fine, or both. The judge is likely to hear the arguments on the quantum of punishment in the coming week.