January 07, 2008	Monday	Zilhaj 27, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Jan 6: Police investigation into the theft of two newborn baby boys at a city hospital took a new twist on Sunday, when the mothers of both the babies claimed that an abandoned newborn boy found at Kahuta and adopted by a woman was theirs.

The infant was taken into custody by the New Town police and kept in an isolated room at the Holy Family Hospital amid tight security. A DNA test has been ordered to verify the parenthood of the baby. Both the women have been allowed to visit the infant till the DNA report is received. But they cannot take him out of the hospital.

Najma, wife of Tariq Mehmood, gave birth to her first son on December 9 at the Holy Family Hospital. On the same day a woman accompanied by three children came to the nursery and told the nursing staff that she wanted to take the baby to his mother for feeding.

The woman took the baby from the staff and disappeared. Since then the parents, who are residents of Rawlakot, have been staying in the city waiting to get back their son.

In the second case, Marium Bibi, wife of Gul Mohammad Khan, gave birth to a baby boy at the same hospital on January 3. An unidentified woman came to Marium when she was alone in her room and said a lady doctor wanted to examine the baby in the labour room. The woman took away the baby and disappeared.

Inspector Asghar Gorya, who is leading the investigation into both the cases, said the police received an information from Kahuta that an abandoned newborn baby had been found on January 2 and a woman named Nusrat Bibi (a close relative of a lady councillor Ghulam Sughran) had adopted him.

The IO said Ghulam Sughran first told the police that she wanted the baby for his newly-married son Adnan, and also produced a certificate of adoption.

Later, she changed her statement and claimed that Nusrat had delivered the baby and showed a hospital entry slip. But the police found no birth record of the baby at the hospital.

Later, when the police produced the baby before Ms Najma for identification, she claimed that it was her baby.

Blood tests of both the baby and Ms Najma were carried out in the hospital and were matched. Later, the specialist doctors verified the birth date, weight and height of the baby with the hospital record, which turned out to be accurate.

But as Marium, the other affected woman, was not willing to withdraw her claim, it was decided to get a DNA test done to ascertain the parenthood of the infant, the IO said.

“We would register a case and arrest the woman who has been claiming that she delivered the baby and also brought fake birth certificates from a Kahuta hospital if the DNA report disowned her,” Inspector Gorya said.

He said police had been trying to trace the second baby and had received an important phone call on Sunday which might lead them to recover him.

The two similar incidents had taken place in the hospital apparently due to security lapse and negligence of hospital staff. But the hospital administration has been blaming both the parents for the incidents.