KOCHI: The Elamakkara police on Saturday arrested a couple who allegedly abandoned their two-day-old baby girl on the premises of St George’s Forane Church at Edappally.Bitto, 34, and his wife Pravitha, 29, residents of Neelankavil, Wadakkancherry in Thrissur, were arrested by the police on Saturday morning. They have three kids. While the cops traced Bitto from his home in Wadakkancherry, Pravitha surrendered before the police by Saturday evening. The couple, who has three children, was booked under IPC Section 317 (exposure and abandonment of child under 12 years, by parent or person having a care of it), Section 34 (common intention) and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (punishment for cruelty to child).
The security personnel at the church had found the abandoned baby, wrapped in an orange sheet, around 8.15 pm on Friday. They immediately alerted the Elamakkara police station. CCTV footage from cameras installed near the church premises showed the couple walking into the church premises around 8.15 pm with another child. “As soon as we got the couple’s picture, we immediately passed it on to all the police stations through our Whatsapp group. Finally, the Wadakkancherry police found the couple was from there. On Saturday, we rushed to their home and took Bitto, the child’s father, to the police station. During questioning, he admitted to have committed the act,” said a police officer.
‘They thought they will be shamed’
Bitto and Pravitha, both from different religions, revealed they abandoned the girl as their friends and relatives would have made fun of them for having a fourth child. “During questioning, they told us they weren’t planning on having a fourth child and themselves realised the pregnancy after six months. Since it was difficult to abort the foetus, they decided to abandon it,” the cops said. The officers said Pravitha gave birth to the girl on Friday and the duo left Thrissur Medical College with the baby without informing the hospital staff. “They reached Ernakulam from Thrissur on a train and abandoned the girl near the church,” the police said. The baby, who was in a private hospital at Edappally, was handed over to the Angamaly Sisubhavan. Later, the police produced the duo before a magistrate.