Navi Mumbai: A day after a newborn was found abandoned on a street outside an oprhanage in Panvel, the biological parents were traced on Sunday. The police identified the child’s father as a 23-year-old Bhiwandi resident, Aman Kondkar, an engineer who is currently unemployed. He told the police that he was in a relationship with a 20-year-old distant relative woman from Mumbra.The two-day-old girl had been placed in a plastic basket which was left on a pavement outside an orphanage in Takka Colony early Saturday morning.Even as family members of the couple were opposed to the marriage, the woman got pregnant and delivered the child at a private hospital in Mumbra. “At the private hospital where the baby was born, the couple had claimed they were married…,” said assistant commissioner of police (crime) Ajay Landge.The couple had arrived at the spot in a car. The vehicle registration number helped the police track them down. Footage from CCTV cameras in the locality helped the police zero in on the couple. “One of the recordings showed a burkha-clad woman carrying the basket and placing it on the pavement outside Swapnalay Girls’ Orphanage,” said the officer.The infant was found in the basket, with a note that the person who had left the newborn felt “sorry for abandoning” the infant. The couple had left the newborn at the spot early Saturday.The infant is currently in the custody of a charitable organisation. The state child welfare committee will decide whether or not to hand over custody of the child to the parents.The mother has claimed that she “repented her act and decided to bring back the baby the next day, said senior inspector of Panvel police station, Nitin Thakare. The police said they are still to ascertain if the couple were married.The couple has been booked for abandoning a child. They have not been arrested, but served with a notice, directing them to participate in the investigation.A psychiatrist from Masina Hospital, Dr Priyanka Mahajan, said that if a baby is born out of wedlock, there can be immense societal and psychological pressure on a young mother to “get rid” of the child due to the stigma attached to it. Dr Mahajan pointed out that a mother does feel guilt and remorse due to the natural human bond between a mother and her baby.
