Woman held for abandoning sister's newborn baby in Thane

Police have arrested a 24-year-old woman for allegedly abandoning the newborn child of her sister in Maharashtra's Thane city, an official said on Wednesday.

Some passersby spotted the newborn girl lying on a road near a chawl (row tenement) at Bhaskar Nagar in Kalwa at around 6.15 am on Tuesday and alerted local police.

After receiving information, police rushed to the spot and took charge of the child, police spokesperson Shailesh Salvi said.

With no clue about the child's parents, the police worked on several leads and examined CCTV footage of the locality.

Based on technical and intelligence inputs, the police zeroed-in on the child's aunt within six hours, the official said. Following the woman's questioning, it came to light that the child belonged to her sister, he said.

The accused woman's sister has been admitted to a civic hospital for treatment as she needed medical assistance, the official said.

The child's aunt was arrested and booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 91 (act done with intent to prevent a child being born alive or to cause to die after birth) and 93 (exposure and abandonment of child under 12 years of age, by parent or person having care of it), he added.