KARACHI: A newborn baby girl was kidnapped in the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) early on Saturday morning.

South-SSP Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that Ms Sakina, 22, wife of Mohammed Ismail, resident of Yusuf Goth, Baldia Town, had given birth to a baby girl in the gynaecology ward of the JPMC the other day, but the baby had been missing since 3am on Saturday.

He said the police, after receiving information about the incident, had launched an investigation and obtained CCTV footage. In one footage, a burqa-clad woman was seen carrying the infant in her arm and approaching the desk of the gynaecology ward where apparently the male staff, after writing something in the register, allowed her to go out.

The woman could then be seen going out and disappearing.

SSP Raza said that the alleged kidnapper woman was helping the mother inside the gynaecology ward. The family assumed her to be a member of the hospital staff while the JPMC staff thought that she was an attendant or a relative of the mother.

The senior officer said that a police team had been set up to recover the infant and arrest the kidnapper after registering an FIR against the security in-charge, nurse and other staff of the ward on the complaint of the girl’s father.

FIR

The complainant Ismail said that his relative women brought his wife Sakina, 22, at full-term pregnancy, to the JPMC gynaecology ward on June 8 at 11am. She gave birth to a baby girl on June 9 (Friday) at 10am.

The father said he stayed at the ward till 10pm on that day and later went to his residence in Yusuf Goth while his mother-in-law and sister-in-law stayed with his wife.

He said his infant daughter had been missing since 3am on Saturday. He was told at 12:30am that his infant daughter’s health was not good and that his sister-in-law, Maheen, along with an unknown woman, took the infant to National Institute of Child Health (NICH) for a check-up and came back to the ward at 1am.

He said his wife and other relative women were asleep and when they woke up at 2:30am, they saw that the infant was missing. The complainant said that his younger brother informed him about the incident and he rushed to the JPMC and inquired from the staff but they did ‘not cooperate’ with him.

The complainant claimed that the ward security in-charge, Rizwana, the ward staff nurse, Naureen, and other unknown people were involved in ‘kidnapping/disappearing’ of his infant daughter. Therefore, he wanted a legal action against them.

The Saddar police registered an FIR under Sections 363 (whoever kidnaps any person from Pakistan or from lawful guardianship, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code against the said nominated persons and others.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2023