india

Updated: Jul 24, 2019 11:47 IST

A woman was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly throwing her three-month-old son from the fourth floor of a hospital building in Lucknow, resulting in his death, the police said.

The incident took place in the trauma centre of King George Medical University (KGMU). Initial probe suggested the mother was upset as the boy was not keeping well since his birth, the police said.

Additional superintendent of police (ASP) Vikas Chandra Tripathi said the woman, Shanti Devi, 27, was arrested under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (concealment of crime) of the Indian Penal Code on the complaint of her husband Rajan Singh. He said the child’s body has been sent for a post-mortem examination.

The child was diagnosed with jaundice soon after his birth at the BRD Hospital in Gorakhpur on April 23. The doctors there referred him to the KGMU after his liver condition deteriorated two months back.

Dr Sandip Tiwari, spokesperson of KGMU, said the child had been under treatment for jaundice since May 26. Statements of the hospital staff and others suggested that the child’s mother was upset with his continued illness. He said the child was preterm with very low birth weight, just 1 kg.

Tripathi said the incident was reported to the police when Shanti Devi raised an alarm that her child had been stolen from the hospital. He said there were multiple contradictions in her statements. She was spotted carrying the child in her lap in CCTV footage.

After extensive questioning, the woman confessed to have thrown the child through the window of the neo-natal intensive care unit, located on the fourth floor of the building, Tripathi said. The woman said she had taken the extreme step as she was deeply troubled by his illness, the police officer said.