A baby girl born just four months after her parents’ wedding and then allegedly given away to protect the couple’s reputation was returned to her parents on Tuesday.
The parents, Naeem and Sana, wed on October 28, 2012, and some four months later, a baby was delivered at Rana Welfare Hospital Foundation in Shahdara Town, according to a police investigation.
The couple allegedly told the deliverer of the baby, Dr Tahir Mehmood, that they could not keep the child as it would bring shame to their families knowing that she had been conceived out of wedlock. They told him he could either kill the baby or keep her himself, according to the investigation.
A midwife named Razia Bibi who worked at the hospital, with Dr Mehmood’s permission, then reportedly took the baby to Naseem Hospital, located at Jora Pul near Chungi Amr Sidhu, where she gave the baby to a Dr Rana Sohail Azam.
Dr Azam then allegedly sold the baby to a man named Nadeem for Rs115,000. He gave the child to a relative named Amir Touqeer who had no children and lived in Denmark.
According to the police investigation, upon learning that the child had been sold and they had not received a cent, Naeem filed a complaint with Shahdara Town police alleging that Dr Mehmood, Dr Azam and midwives Razia Bibi and Yasmeen Bibi had abducted her. A case was registered under Section 363 (kidnapping) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
Both doctors obtained pre-arrest bail, while both midwives were thrown in jail. Nadeem was also arrested and presented before the court. He testified that he had not abducted the baby, but paid Rs115,000 for her. He pledged to recover the baby and hand her over to her parents by December 10.
On Tuesday, the baby, brought back from Denmark, was handed over to the parents.
A police source said that the couple had reached a compromise with the accused and would withdraw the kidnapping complaint. The source said that Dr Azam had paid the couple Rs200,000 to drop the case.
Court staffers said that the complainant had told the court that a compromise was being negotiated. The settlement would be brought up at the next hearing of the case on December 11 (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2013.