New Delhi, Feb 4 : The teenaged girl who brought two-year-old Falak with serious injuries to the AIIMS Trauma Centre told counsellors of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on Friday that the infant had an elder brother who had been “adopted”.
According to a newspaper report, the girl said that Rajkumar (her live-in partner) took her to the Govindpuri Metro station where they met a man.
“They (Rajkumar and the man) were talking about the baby girl. The man also said that there are two children—one boy and one girl. The boy had been already adopted and he asked Rajkumar if he wanted to adopt the baby girl,” she said.
She said that Rajkumar brought the two-year-old to their Mahipalpur home “about two months ago”, but she refused to take care of the child. The child was then returned and “kept with someone at Sangam Vihar.”
Rajkumar brought the child home again a week later and she began taking care of her, the girl told the counsellors.
She said that January 17, a day before she rushed the two-year-old to hospital, was the only time she beat the child. She said this was due to the child's incessant crying, and she felt guilty for what she did.
She said she took the child to the bathroom and made her stand next to a bucket. When she stood up, the child slipped, fell face down and injured her head.
She said she tried to dress the wound, but it “became bigger”.
She told the counsellors that when the child “did not wake up” in the morning, she asked a cleaning woman for help, who told her to take the child to hospital.
The Child Welfare Committee report states: “Around 10 pm, the baby started crying. Out of anger, she slapped her about 3-4 times, and also bit her. She said she does not remember where she bit the baby.”
“The baby was not given immediate medical help after the injury on her head, which led to her becoming unconscious. As she did not wake up in the morning, she might have become comatose.”
Police probing the case said the sibling relationship can be established once Rajkumar is arrested.
Laxmi, the woman from West Delhi, claimed that she gave both the babies to a man named Manoj.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chhaya Sharma said the boy can be traced only after Munni, the woman believed to be the biological mother of the children, was tracked down.
Police sources said, “Laxmi told us that Munni had brought two babies to her. After Munni vanished from Laxmi's house and left the children behind, she gave them to Manoj.”
Police said they would also question associates of Rajkumar to ascertain if he was the father of the children.
A joint interrogation of three of the arrested persons —Sandeep, Pooja, and Arti– was conducted, but their role in an organised prostitution racket is yet to be established.
Some details of the case will emerge when the absconding persons are arrested, Additional Commissioner of Police(Southeast) Ajay Chaudhary said.
Meanwhile, showing signs of improvement, Falak was taken off ventilator support on Friday. She is showing some response to the antibiotics she is being given, doctors said.
According to Dr Deepak Aggarwal, the neurosurgeon treating her, “Though culture reports on her blood and brain fluid are still positive, indicating that infection is still present in her body, her chest X-rays are clearer. This implies that the infection is under some control.”
Encouraged by the results, doctors took the baby off life support around 6 am Friday. Her breathing is normal.
Dr M C Misra, chief of AIIMS Trauma Centre, said, “She is managing the breathing process perfectly.”
Doctors had feared multi-organ failure. If the child's condition remains stable, doctors will perform another surgery next week to create a permanent draining mechanism for the infected cavity in her brain.
“The cerebrospinal fluid is being collected in a portion of the brain. We had to surgically remove it, but the fluid is constantly collecting there. It is being drained through a temporary lumbar tube inserted in her spine,” he said.
