Child’s play: Doctor, two others arrested for kidnapping newborn

Gynaecologist claimed that she took the child to give to a barren couple.

KARACHI: Three people, including a lady doctor, were arrested as police thwarted what was the second attempt to kidnap a baby from a hospital in the past two days.

Landhi police were alerted by the hospital administrator and they caught the prime suspect, Samina, red-handed as she tried to get away with newborn from Islamuddin Hospital in Landhi No. 6. Later, she led the police to her brother, Javed, who used to work as a medicine dispenser at the hospital.

A similar incident occurred on Thursday except last time around the culprits got away and the child was never recovered. An unidentified woman abducted a six-month-old boy from a government hospital in Liaquatabad where he had been admitted for nine days. The Sharifabad police are still searching for the woman and missing child. The pair implicated a gynaecologist, Hina Sultan, by telling the police that she was the one who told them to take the baby. Landhi SHO Mazhar Iqbal said that both the siblings were trying to defend themselves and denied having made any deals with anyone.

Nazia was admitted to a hospital on Friday and gave birth to a baby boy on Saturday. According to her husband, Abdul Ghaffar, Javed took his baby away with them late on Saturday night saying that the baby needed treatment but never brought him back.

Javed gave the child to his sister and she was trying to flee the hospital when the watchman stopped her and alerted the parents and the hospital administration.

The doctor, meanwhile, admitted to her involvement by telling the SHO she is not a kidnaper. She claimed this was her first offence and she had intended to give the child to a family desperate to adopt. However, the police believe that they may uncover more such kidnappings through interrogation. They have registered an FIR, No. 242/11, under Sections 363/109/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the hospital administrator, Atif Khan’s, complaint.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2011.