3 convicted for kidnapping newborn from govt hospital in Thane

The accused couple had planned to hand over the infant to the third accused Srivastav, the court was told.

Thane: A court in Maharashtra’s Thane district has convicted three persons accused of kidnapping a newborn from a government hospital and sentenced them to five years and six months of rigorous imprisonment.

Additional sessions judge GG Bhansali found the accused Gudiya Sonu Rajbhar (43), her husband Sonu (49) and Vilas Kailas Srivastav (57) guilty of charges under section 363 (kidnapping) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

Additional public prosecutor Varsha Chandane informed the court that on January 14, 2018, Gudiya kidnapped a baby boy within four hours of his birth from the labour ward of a government hospital and took him home.

The police later traced the accused and found the baby and restored it with its parents, she said.

The accused couple had planned to hand over the infant to the third accused Srivastav, the court was told.

Eighteen prosecution witnesses, including the police and experts, were examined during the trial.

The judge, in his order, noted that a newborn baby was a sucking child, and the company of a mother and breastmilk is equivalent to oxygen.

The court observed that the accused couple were parents to six children and had been in jail since 2018. Hence, it was appropriate to impose punishment for the period they had been in jail.