HC quashes chargesheet against mom for abandoning newborn

Panaji: The high court of Bombay at Goa quashed the chargesheet and case pending before the children’s court against a mother for abandoning her one-month-old daughter in a plastic bag behind her house last year.Her advocate, Caroline Collasso, told the high court that it was not a premeditated act but due to the postpartum psychosis she suffered from various extenuating circumstances that affected her emotionally. These included her weak health, emergency caesarean, and the premature birth of her baby weighing barely 1.3kg. She also experienced pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy complication related to high blood pressure, the death of her father while she was in hospital, exclusive breastfeeding, long hours of kangaroo mother care providing skin-to-skin contact for the premature baby, deprived sleep, and being separated from her baby who was initially kept in the NICU.Collasso informed the court that postpartum psychosis is a condition that usually develops within the first week after delivery, where symptoms include feeling confused and lost, having obsessive thoughts about the baby, and making attempts to harm oneself or the baby. She added that no one in the family was aware of this psychological condition and hence did not seek any intervention.She said the woman and her husband have a loving relationship, and both families are united and happy, and have decided to put the incident behind them and look forward to the development of their child.

The woman submitted that her husband also acknowledges that she is taking great care of the child, who has grown very well under her care.The mother wrapped her one-month-old sleeping baby in a plastic bag and abandoned her outside her home at Borda in March last year. The infant was spotted by neighbours. The police later booked the woman for abandoning her child, causing grievous hurt by an act endangering life, and child abuse.