Avneet Kaur
Jalandhar, April 12
Punjab Police head constable Harjinder Singh was rushing back to his home after duty when he chanced upon something lying in the middle of the overpass at Bhagwanpur village in Kapurthala on the evening of April 4. He said the newborn baby boy was covered with a cloth from head to toe, so he couldn’t see the baby at first glance.
“I then glanced at it one more time and found the object moving. As soon as I removed the cloth, I found a baby in it and the baby started crying. His umbilical cord was partially intact then, so I had the idea he was a newborn or maybe a day or few hours old,” Harjinder told The Tribune.
He said as the baby was continuously crying, he took the baby in his hands, removed the dust from his body and the cloth he was wrapped in and immediately called an ambulance. In the meantime, he also reported the matter to the police control room.
“The ambulance had to come from Sultanpur Lodhi, which was 15-20 km away, so I didn’t wait for it instead I called my brother from Sheikhupura village and we took the baby to the Kapurthala Civil Hospital on our own,” said Harjinder, who is posted at the CRC Branch in Kapurthala.
He said the doctors informed him that the baby was premature and just a few hours old. “My whole family was present at the hospital at that moment and every one of us was watching him like he was one of us, a part of our family,” said Harjinder.
“Today is the eighth day. At least one member, including myself, of my family is visiting the baby on a daily basis. Though we have now been denied permission to take care of him, we still wish to see him, so we are visiting the hospital,” he added.
Harjinder also shared that he had been married for nearly nine years now, but he had no kids. “My wife and I have never thought of adopting a child before this. After having spent time with this little boy, we seem to have developed an emotional connection with him. We really wish to legally adopt him,” he added.
Harjinder and his wife Jyoti further said they had already met the DC, the ADC and other authorities regarding the adoption procedure, but due to some legal issues they had been denied adoption. They said they had been told that as per the law, the baby could be adopted by those parents who had applied before them.
DC Deepti Uppal said the District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) was looking after the case. “If the law allows and there’s a provision through which the couple can file for adoption, the administration would offer its full assistance,” said the DC.
Kapurthala cop wishes to adopt the newborn baby he rescued
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