HC directs CBI to probe missing baby case

Police filed false plaint that child had died, made her sign it: Mother

The Dharwad bench of the High Court of Karnataka has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the missing case of a fruit vendor's baby.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Shankaramma Poojari, a fruit vendor who sought directions to the police to find her missing child.

According to the petitioner, she gave birth to the child at a hospital in Bagalkot on Novermber 9, 2016. She was also issued birth certificate. However, a few days after the child's birth (on November 13), her husband Veeresh, Renuka Parutagouda and Sharnamma Parutagouda came to the hospital and assaulted her.

Thereafter, she was discharged from the hospital. Despite repeated pleadings, the hospital did not hand over the child to her. The police also refused to register her complaint.

The petitioner then approached the district health officer. The police thereafter registered a false complaint and forced her to sign on the complaint, saying her baby was dead and the matter was settled.

She said this was a conspiracy by the nursing home, her husband and other respondents.

Stating that the baby had been wrongfully retained by the nursing home, she requested the court for issuance of habeas corpus, directing the respondents to produce her baby.

The court said there was no material to prove the baby was found dead on November 13, as per the police complaint.

The court, in its order, said all respondents, specifically the police and the hospital, had colluded in closing the matter by showing that the baby was dead and the body had been disposed of through the bio-medical waste treatment facility in Bagalkot.

The court directed for the transfer of investigation from the police to the CBI, and asked the CBI to take required action .