Foetus Dumped in Drainage Ditch at Hadapsar, Pune: 21-Year-Old Woman Arrested, Released on Bail
Pune: A 21-year-old married woman was arrested for allegedly dumping a male foetus in a drainage ditch behind Rajgad Housing Society in Hadapsar. The Hadapsar police recovered the foetus on March 17 after residents complained about a foul smell from the clogged and overflowing drainage.
Initially, an FIR was registered against unidentified persons, and the police launched an investigation to trace the parent(s) responsible. Officers questioned residents, alerted nearby police stations, and contacted private and civic hospitals as well as clinics to identify a woman who had either undergone an abortion or suffered a miscarriage. However, these efforts yielded no leads.
The breakthrough came when the police, while questioning society members, identified a woman who had recently terminated her pregnancy. Sub-Inspector Avinash Shinde stated, “We arrested the woman on March 21 after she confessed to dumping the foetus. She claimed she did not want to conceive the baby for personal reasons.”
According to the investigation, the woman had taken abortion pills to terminate her pregnancy. The foetus was expelled into the drainage system while she was in the washroom. After the foetus was discovered, she remained silent out of fear of social backlash. “When our team visited her, she began shivering and sweating. Policewomen Rupali Takawane and Mangal Pardeshi, along with Assistant Sub-Inspector Kishore Rane, gained her confidence, after which she disclosed the circumstances surrounding the incident,” Shinde added.
The woman was booked under Section 94 (concealing birth of a child) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, a bailable offence punishable by up to two years in prison. She was later released on bail at the police station level. No action was taken against her husband, who works as a welder.
