Mumbai: A commuter, Monica Nath (24), who came across a woman and a child, at 11.30 pm on Wednesday on the Harbour line, alerted the police as she harboured suspicions that the child and the woman are not related. It is yet to be confirmed whether the child is indeed the woman’s, but the Government Railway Police (GRP) seems to think it is so.
The complainant, however, has alleged that the woman is not the child’s mother, as the latter was wearing torn clothes whereas the baby wore jewellery.
Recounting the incident, which occurred after she got into a CST-bound train at Vashi, Ms Nath said, “The woman concealed the girl, who was cute and caught the eye of all the commuters, with a shawl. The woman was acting unusually and we realised that something was amiss.” She added, “I asked the baby’s name, but the woman didn’t reply and went to other door. That’s when I saw she the child was wearing silver anklets, and had a silver strap-belt around her stomach. This made me suspicious because the woman herself was stinking and her salwar kameez was in tatters but the baby was clean.”
Despite repeatedly asking the woman if the baby was hers, the woman did not respond to Ms Nath’s questions. Finally, Ms Nath dissuaded the woman from alighting at Kurla and convinced her to get down with her at Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) station after which the woman told the railway police force about the suspicions.
A case has been registered at the Wadala GRP station under section 23 of the Juvenile Justice Act, which is invoked when a child has been subjected to cruelty and under which abandonment and neglect is included.
Wadala senior police inspector Indrabhan Sarodhe said, “We have registered the case under the Juvenile Act. The woman hails from Bihar and we suspect that the child is hers, but we will have to wait until the court does a blood test to match the child’s DNA with the woman’s.” She added, “We have currently detained the woman. She was produced in court while the child has been taken to the adoption centre in Matunga.”
The child has been sent to the Indian Association for Promotion of Adoption & Child Welfare at Matunga.
