Family forgives Mumbai mother charged with baby’s murder

NDTV

Mumbai, 28 October 2010: "We’ve forgiven Deepika for what she’s done. We want her back home with the child," said Chandubhai Parmar, father-in-law of the 26-year-old Mumbai woman who flung her baby girl out of the bathroom window at KEM Hospital on Tuesday.

 

"We do not want any police action against her," said Parmar, even as his wife sobbed inconsolably beside him at the hospital in Parel. Deepika’s father, Govind Darji, was also with them. "We want to put the past behind us. Now, all we pray is for the twin infant to bounce back to health," he said.

 

Deepika, who allegedly threw her twin baby girl out of the window around 4.45 am on Tuesday, had initially claimed that the infant had been abducted from the hospital ward. The twins were born prematurely in the seventh month of pregnancy.

 

The closed-circuit camera television footage, however, nailed her lie. It showed Deepika entering the bathroom with the baby and returning without the child. Her husband, Manish (30), was asleep outside the ward when this happened.

 

The hospital’s security guards later found the baby outside the hospital window. The infant, whose ear had been nibbled at, died on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the police booked Deepika for murder. That leaves the fate of her 45-day-old surviving twin son hanging.

 

Deepika could be in police custody and the boy, who needs to be breastfed for at least six months, will have to accompany the mother in lock-up.

 

"Everything depends on the court order," said Police Inspector Vikrant Patil of Bhoiwada police station where a complaint has been lodged against Deepika. "We are yet to decide on arresting the mother as the baby boy’s condition is critical."