Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (SP)

Mother and grandmother arrested after journalists intervene

Kundapur, Aug 2: In an incident that baffles reasoning power of kindhearted citizens, a woman was found to have abandoned her newborn in a forest area. The woman who tossed her baby into the woods and exposed it to the risk of getting battered by rain, wind and other adversities besides getting devoured by animals, has been identified as Swati (17) from Koodlu in Kanyana Guddeangady within Hattiangadi gram panchayat in the taluk.

The baby, it is learnt, was left alone to fend for itself immediately after birth on Thursday July 31 afternoon.

It is said that Swati, and her mother, Prema, decided to discard the newborn as it was born to the girl at a very young age out of illegitimate relationship.

The baby, which was exposed to the onslaught of rain and wind for 30 hours, miraculously lived to be cared for. Prompt action taken by a few media reporters from the town, who acted swiftly and saw that the baby was admitted into a hospital, came in for all-round appreciation.

Swati lives with her mother at Guddeangadi. Although the villagers saw for themselves that Swati had turned pregnant without getting married, they chose to remain mum in the issue on humanitarian considerations. On Thursday morning, Swati started to get labour pain. The mother-daughter duo then hired a Maruti Omni from Tallur, and left at around 2 pm on Thursday, telling their neighbours that they were leaving for Sagar in Shimoga district.

It is learnt that by the time the vehicle moved a little further and reached Jannal within Chittoor gram panchayat near Jadkal among dense forest, Swati started to get fast-paced labour contractions. The duo asked the driver of the vehicle to stop for a few minutes, telling him that they wanted to relieve themselves. The daughter and mother went into the forest and came back in about 15 minutes. They asked the driver to turn the vehicle back home. On the way, they visited a private clinic in Tallur village to collect some medicines.

The villagers found that Swati's abdomen had flattened overnight, and the mother-daughter duo had returned home instead of staying at Sagar, on Friday morning. They smelt something fishy about these developments, and immediately passed information to the reporter of a newspaper and editor of another. The journalists then contacted local circle inspector, P M Diwakar, and visited the home of Swati with a sub-inspector of police named Prasad, and other police personnel. However, Swati and her mother denied about any untoward incidents and refused to cooperate.

The journalists than visited the spot from where the vehicle was asked to take a U-turn, with the help of the driver of the Omni vehicle. They found that the baby was weeping inconsolably at the spot. The fact was immediately brought to the notice of police circle inspector, Diwakar, and the baby was admitted into Chinmayi Hospital in the town. The baby is responding to treatments well.

The journalists expressed annoyance at the non-cooperative attitude of the policemen in the matter. When the journalists took interest in reaching to the bottom of the issue, the policemen said they were helpless, and unable to register a case unless the family members approach them. They also tried to shake themselves off the responsibility by adding that the spot where the child was abandoned does not fall within the limits of the town police station. When the circle inspector, who was then in Udupi, was contacted, he asked the journalists to proceed on their own, pledging moral support to their initiative. Now, the journalists have come in for praise for saving the life of an innocent child, which was sure to be doomed if left alone in the forest for a few more hours.

Police circle inspector, P M Diwakar, taking serious note of the incident, registered a complaint against Swati and Prema, and arrested both of them. Omni driver, Ganesh, has been made the complainant, and the doctor of a private clinic has been named as an accused for supporting this inhuman act.