A 19-year-old woman gave birth to a baby on board a running sleeper coach bus in Maharashtra's Parbhani on Tuesday, and later helped a man claiming to be her husband dump the newborn baby out of the window of the running bus, PTI reported quoting the local police.
"A woman, identified as Ritika Dhere, was travelling to Parbhani from Pune along with Altaf Shaikh, who claimed to be her husband, in the sleeper coach bus of Sant Prayag Travels. During their journey, the woman, who was pregnant, started experiencing labour pains and gave birth to a baby boy. However, the couple put the baby in a piece of cloth and threw him out of the vehicle," a police official in the PTI report said.
The incident occurred around 6.30 AM on the Pathri-Selu Road on Tuesday. While the alleged couple initially said the woman had vomited out of the window, the death of the newborn boy came to light after a citizen spotted that the baby was thrown out of the bus wrapped in a cloth.
According to the police, the driver of the sleeper bus noticed that something was thrown out of the window. Upon enquiry, Shaikh told the driver that his wife had vomited as she felt nauseous due to the bus journey.
"Meanwhile, when a citizen on the road checked what was thrown out of the bus window, he was shocked to find that it was a baby boy. He immediately alerted the police by calling their 112 helpline," the police official said.
Upon learning about the incident, a local police patrol team chased the luxury bus and took the couple away for a preliminary investigation. The couple told the cops that they had dumped the newborn as they were unable to raise the child. The fall resulted in the death of the baby.
According to the police, Ritika and Altaf have lived in Pune for the past one and a half years. While they told the cops that they were husband and wife, the couple failed to produce any documents to support the claim.
"After taking them into custody, the police rushed the woman to a hospital for treatment," the police said.
The cops have registered against the couple at Pathri police station in Parbhani under section 94 (3), (5) of BNS (concealment of birth by secret disposal of dead body). Investigation into the case is underway and the accused have been served a notice.
