Days after delivery, 12-year-old girl runs away from hospital

Ashok Kaura

Phagwara, June 2

A 12-year-old migrant girl, who gave birth to a male child in Phagwara, on May 26 and was later admitted in Bibi Nanki Mother and Child Hospital, Amritsar, today escaped from the hospital, leaving the seriously ailing child behind.

Her father Bhagwat, a Bihar resident and attendant of his daughter in Amritsar, also ran away from the hospital. Child specialist Dr Naresh Kundra said it was a premature delivery. The child weighed only 900 gm and was serious. Both mother and child were shifted to Amritsar.

Phagwara SP Gurpreet Singh had appointed Sadar SHO Usha Rani as investigating officer who met the minor in the hospital. The IO said the girl told the police that she was living with her father in Tibbi Mohalla, Phagwara, and was raped by an unknown youth when she had gone to ease herself in the open last year.

On May 26, she felt severe pain in the stomach and was brought to the Civil Hospital, Phagwara, where she delivered the child. Phagwara DSP Jaspreet Singh said the police had registered a case under Section 376 of the IPC and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act against the unknown rapist. Now Amritsar and the Phagwara police are searching for the mother and her father.