PESHAWAR, Dec 17: The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child has expressed concern over the kidnapping of a new born child from the Lady Reading Hospital and has urged the government to recover the baby and punish the people responsible for the incident.

A press statement issued here on Thursday quoted Mrs Abdul Jabbar, the baby's mother, as saying that a woman, who introduced herself as Dr Samina, had taken away the baby on Nov 30 after 'examining' other children in the ward.

She had said that she would return the baby after weighing him "within 15 minutes". She returned the baby as she had said. The next morning the woman returned and took the baby away but this time she did not come back, the handout said.

It said that the father of the baby, Abdul Jabbar, had lodged an FIR under Section 363 PPC and had sought action against the ward staff but the hospital administration had been reluctant to hand over any staff member to the police for interrogation. It said that the incident was a grave violation of child and human rights.