Gujarat woman delivers stillborn baby, kin blame cops

Carrying a stillborn child, irate relatives thronged a police station in Ambaji, Banaskantha district in north Gujarat to file a complaint against the policemen for allegedly stopping the mother, who was in labour pain, and those accompanying her as they were not wearing masks on the way to hospital. The relatives have alleged that this caused delay of nearly an hour which led to death of the baby.

The police while ordering an inquiry into the incident have primarily denied that delay was caused for stopping them for not wearing masks. The district superintendent of police Tarun Duggal told DH that an inquiry has been initiated to find out the truth. Meanwhile, pictures of a woman filling her complaint inside the police station with the dead body of the baby kept on the table were doing the rounds on social media.

According to Moti Rabari, 32, on July 12, he took his sister-in-law Radha, who was in labour pain, to general hospital in Ambaji at around 9 PM. The doctors there referred her to Palanpur civil hospital. Rabari has claimed that since there was no ambulance at the hospital, he took Radha in his private vehicle to Palanpur with other family members. He claimed that at Ambaji town's DK circle two policemen identified as Jayesh and Bharat stopped the car and fined him for not wearing a mask which has been made compulsory in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rabai has alleged that despite paying the fine, his vehicle was "detained" and brought to Ambaji police station for harassment which resulted in loss of crucial one hour. Finally, he went to Palanpur civil hospital but looking at the critical condition of Radha, she was referred to Dhar Medical College and Hospital in neighbouring Patan district. He has said in his written complaint that the unborn child died in the womb and the doctors performed C-section surgery to remove the body.

The police, on the other hand, have denied the allegations and said that CCTV footage contradicts the version claimed by the family members. The District Superintendent of Police Duggal told DH, "We started investiging the case since Monday but prima facie the evidence suggests lot of deviation and contradiction in the complaints. It is true that they fined for not wearing masks but delying them for an hour is not true as on today."

He said that statement of doctors at the Ambaji civil hospital has been recorded which is contradicting the claims of Moti. Besides, the police also didn't detain the vehicle or brought them to police station for not wearing masks. "It is true that they were fined for not wearing masks. But, Moti came to police station to meet the police inspector on his own. The CCTV footage shows him standing outside the station for 13 minutes with no one around him. He is seen talking to someone on phone."

Duggal said that entire Ambaji city, a famous temple town, is ffitted with cctv cameras under video intergration and statewide advaced security (VISAS) and in a day or two entire video footage will be collected to acsertain the claims. Meanwhile, Rajul Desai, member of National Commission for women, shot off an e-mail to Gujarat DGP Shivanand Jha and asked to look into it.