Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 1: In yet another case of security lapse in the Shri Maharaja Gulab Singh (SMGS) Hospital, a newly born male infant was stolen from the labour room of the hospital.
The incident has exposed the tall claims, which the administration had made after such thefts in the past.
The male baby of Sharifa Begum, wife of Mohd Mushtaq of village Narriyan, tehsil Nowshera, district Rajouri was stolen on the intervening night of January 31 and February 1 from labour room of SMGS Hospital.
The incident led to the protest from the family of stolen baby and some social organizations. They accused the hospital administration particularly the Principal Government Medical College, Dr Aniece Choudhary of only making tall claims and doing nothing to prevent such incidents.
The security lapse was the main reason behind the theft of baby from Eclampsia room situated within Labour Room as Principal Government Medical College has suspended two security personnel namely Vinay and Kishore and also requested the Police Department to take action against the lady cop namely Sunita, who was also on duty at the time of incident.
The Principal ordered suspension of two security personnel as during preliminary enquiry conducted by Medical Superintendent SMGS Hospital it came to fore that security lapse was the reason behind the theft of baby.
He has also ordered enquiry into the matter, which will be conducted by Reva Gupta, Administrator, Associated Hospital with the assistance of the Medical Superintendent, SMGS Hospital and the officer incharge Police Post SMGS Hospital. They will submit report within three days.
However, sources didn’t rule out the involvement of some security personnel in the theft case. “The possibility of some security men being hand in globe with the gang operating in the hospital cannot be ruled out”, they added.
Meanwhile, a case FIR No 8/ 13 under Section 363 RPC has been registered at Police Post SMGS Hospital.
“We are going through CCTV footage to identify the accused and will reunite the child with the family at the earliest”, police spokesman said.
The theft of baby has not only put question mark on the steps being taken by the hospital administration to check incidents but also exposed slackness of the police in working out such cases as despite lapse of over three months police is clueless about the whereabouts of the newly born baby, who was stolen from the SMGS Hospital on November 14, 2012.
Eye-witnesses, family members of the abducted baby and officials of Police Department had watched the CCTV footage and also identified the woman but she could not be put behind the bars till date.
Following earlier thefts, the hospital administration installed 16 CCTV cameras at different places but all the measures to check theft of babies have failed to yield desired results.
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