A one-and-a-half-month-old boy was allegedly abducted from the vicinity of the pharmacy at Delhi’s Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital on Thursday afternoon, prompting police to register a kidnapping case against an unidentified person. The incident occurred shortly after the infant’s mother left him with a woman she had recently met while she went to fetch drinking water, police said.
According to the first information report, the mother had brought her son to the hospital’s Maternity and Child Health building at around 10.30 am for a consultation. After meeting a doctor, she went to the pharmacy to collect medicines. The complaint states that heavy rain led her to remain near the pharmacy area.
The mother told police that a woman wearing a black burqa came and sat beside her and asked where she lived. The woman allegedly said that she lived in the same area. Around 12.30 pm, the mother asked the woman to fetch drinking water. When the woman declined, the mother left her infant in the woman’s care and went to get water herself, the FIR states.
The mother returned about five minutes later and found that both the woman and the child were missing. She searched the area before approaching the police and filing a complaint. The infant had been wrapped in a pink blanket with white edging, according to the information provided to police.
The case has been registered at GTB Enclave police station under Section 137(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with kidnapping. Police said an investigation was underway. The report did not provide details of any arrest, recovery effort or identification of the woman suspected of taking the child.
The incident also follows an earlier reported case at GTB Hospital. In May, a seven-month-old boy was allegedly abducted from the hospital by an unidentified woman, after which police registered a kidnapping case and began an investigation. The available report does not state whether that case has been resolved or whether the two incidents are connected.
The reported abduction places renewed attention on the security arrangements around high-footfall public hospitals, where patients and attendants often move through crowded outpatient, pharmacy and waiting areas. The Indian Express said it contacted the hospital administration for a response but had not received one at the time of publication. Police investigation and any subsequent hospital or police statement will determine the next confirmed developments in the case.
