Ahmedabad:

A foetus, nestled among an empty packet of cigarettes, balloons and dust, was abandoned near a drain in Gujarat’s Surat. Carrion-eating birds were hovering over it. A group of children threw stones to disperse the birds and raised an alarm when they realised that there’s an infant. The police were called in.

The infant, a girl child, was rushed to the civil hospital but the doctors declared the child dead on arrival.

The incident was reported from Surat’s Apekshanagar on January 9.

The search led police to the doorstep of a 16-year-old girl.

“Initially, her mother and the person who delivered the child both said no. The police persisted and the 16-year-old was taken for a medical examination at the New Civil Hospital where a doctor confirmed that she had delivered a child,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone 4 Vijay Singh Gurjar.

Upon investigation, said the police officer, it was revealed that the girl is only a 16-year-old and even attended school till January 3.

Upon further inquiry, the girl revealed that she met a 17-year-old boy on Instagram and they became friends.

“Both of them came in contact with each other through Instagram. That boy lived in a rented house in Pandesara, an industrial area in Surat, and they had physical relations in that house due to which the girl became pregnant,” said the police officer.

Upon learning that the girl is pregnant, the boy, originally from Uttar Pradesh, first ran away home and then to Mumbai, said the police.

“From Mumbai, the boy sent her a packet of tablets to end pregnancy. She took two tablets and had a miscarriage at home. She threw the foetus away,” said the police officer quoting the girl.

“We have taken their (boy and girl) DNA samples and an investigation is underway,” the officer said.

The boy will be produced before a Juvenile Justice Board, said the cop.

(With inputs from Mahendra Prasad)

 

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court has placed on hold an order allowing the termination of a 26-week pregnancy after the government submitted a medical report indicating the foetus is “viable”, i.e., it shows signs of life and has a strong possibility of survival. The court, hearing a government plea to recall its order, said it wanted to hear from the woman before passing the new order.

The hearing is to resume at 2 pm.

The top court, which yesterday allowed the termination, was irked by the last-minute AIIMS report, and demanded to know why it had not been presented sooner. “Why only after our order? Why were they not candid earlier? Which court wants to stop a foetus with a heartbeat? Certainly not us, for heaven’s sake,” Justice Hima Kohli said.

On Tuesday, a different bench of the Supreme Court allowed the couple to abort their 26-week-old pregnancy after the petitioner argued that the woman, who is a mother of two children, is suffering from various health issues and from postnatal depression.

The woman said she is financially, emotionally and socially not in a position to raise a third child while she is already breastfeeding her second child.