LAHORE: A sessions court on Saturday denied post-arrest bail to a woman who attempted to kill her newborn baby by throwing him in water tank of Kot Khwaja Saeed Hospital.

The hospital staff had caught Mehwish (18) red-handed while throwing the child in the water tank. The staff pulled the baby out of the tank and shifted him to the hospital nursery for emergency treatment. The doctors saved the life of the child.

Gujjarpura police had arrested the woman and lodged a case against her.

Mehwish through a counsel argued before the court that she had been implicated in the case without knowing the facts. She denied the charge and the police story as fabricated.

A public prosecutor told the court that the accused was caught red-handed by the hospital’s staff. He said the police had eyewitness accounts and video evidence of the incident. He asked the court to dismiss bail petition of the accused.

After hearing the arguments, Additional District and Sessions Judge Mansoor Qureshi dismissed the bail petition.

Another sessions court handed down life imprisonment to a man and a 10-year jail term to three other accomplices each for killing a shopkeeper in Raiwind area for showing resistance during robbery.

Muhammad Sajjad, the prime suspect, was also slapped with a fine of Rs1 million besides life imprisonment while his accomplices namely Muhammad Ali, Ismail and Sajjad were given 10-year term with a fine of Rs500,000 each.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2020