A one-and-a-half-month-old infant was allegedly abducted from near the pharmacy at Delhi’s Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital on Thursday afternoon after his mother briefly left him with a woman she had just met, police said. An FIR has been registered at GTB Enclave police station against an unidentified person under Section 137(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with kidnapping.
According to the complaint, the mother brought her son to the hospital’s Maternity and Child Health building at around 10.30 am for a consultation. After seeing a doctor, she went to the pharmacy to collect medicines. The FIR states that heavy rain led her to remain in the area near the pharmacy.
The complaint says a woman wearing a black burqa sat beside the mother and asked where she lived. The woman reportedly said that she also lived in the same area. At around 12.30 pm, the mother asked her to fetch drinking water. When the woman allegedly declined, the mother left the infant in her care and went to get water herself, the complaint states.
The mother returned about five minutes later and found that both the woman and the infant were missing, according to the FIR. She searched the area before approaching the police. The child had been wrapped in a pink blanket with white edging, police were told.
Police said an investigation is underway. The report does not specify whether the woman was known to the mother before the incident or provide details of any suspect identification. The Indian Express said it contacted the hospital administration but received no response.
The case has also brought renewed attention to security arrangements at the hospital. This is reportedly not the first infant-missing incident at GTB Hospital this year. In May, a seven-month-old boy was allegedly abducted from the hospital by an unidentified woman. Police had registered a kidnapping case and initiated an investigation at that time.
The two reported incidents involve different children and remain matters under police investigation. However, the recurrence of alleged infant abductions at the same public hospital places focus on how access is monitored around maternity and child-health facilities, pharmacies and other crowded patient areas. The current investigation will determine the circumstances of the latest disappearance and identify the person responsible, police said.
