The Madras High Court Bench here has directed the Dean of Government Rajaji Hospital here to submit a report on the number of newborn babies abducted from the hospital in the recent years and the number traced so far with the assistance of the police.
A Division Bench comprising Justice A. Selvam and Justice V.S. Ravi passed the interim order on a habeas corpus petition (HCP) filed by a 19-year-old woman, T. Meenakshi, whose one-day-old baby boy went missing from the GRH on June 15, 2013, but could not be traced till date.
The petitioner’s counsel R. Alagumani contended that baby lifting had become rampant in the GRH despite the establishment of A police outpost, installation of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras, taking footprints of the newborns and providing wrist bands for identifying the mother and the child.
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Filing a counter affidavit in the case, Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan had stated that 353 CCTV cameras had been installed in various government hospitals in the State to prevent such offences and 55 cameras were fixed on the GRH campus.
Pointing out that steps were on to appoint security personnel under Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project in all government hospitals, he said notice boards had been erected in hospitals cautioning patients against handing over babies to unknown persons.
On the other hand, a police inspector, probing the complaint lodged by the petitioner in the present case, stated that only one CCTV camera was in working condition in the maternity ward of the GRH and that too had captured only blurred images of the abductor of the petitioner’s baby.
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The police officer also said the hospital employees were not cooperating in the investigation and a watchman, Kadhar Shah, attempted to commit suicide by consuming poison when he was subjected to questioning with regard to the petitioner’s complaint.