New Delhi:
Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, who are taking care of Baby Falak - a bruised and battered child brought to the hospital by a teen girl, who claimed to be her mother - are now focusing on bringing the two-year-old out of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and into regular care. While Baby Falak's condition remains stable but critical, her health has not deteriorated in the past couple of days. Her eyes have shown some movement and doctors are trying to control her high heartbeat.
The 15-year-old girl who brought Baby Falak to the hospital, had allegedly told the doctors that she was her mother and that the baby's injuries were the result of a fall from her bed. The doctors at the hospital had informed the police as the claims made by her did not match with the injuries seen on the child's body.
The Delhi Police believes that the teen's boyfriend - now the key suspect in the case - got the baby from a woman he knew who in turn had been entrusted with Falak by a woman who works as a domestic helper and is possibly her biological mother. The man involved reportedly left the city for Mumbai.
Police say they are close to making a breakthrough in the case. Even though the man involved remains at large, a Delhi Police team sent to Mumbai to find him has located his family.
Police teams have also been sent to Bihar to track down the others with whom Baby Falak had been over the past few months. They are not ruling out the possibility that she was brought from outside Delhi.
The two-year-old baby, brought to AIIMS on January 18, has been fighting a lonely battle to survive. Falak - or "the sky" - as she has been christened by her care-givers, was taken off the ventilator on Friday. She was admitted to the hospital with multiple fractures in her arms and severe head injuries possibly caused by being thrown against a wall. The baby also had human bite marks all over her body.
The teenager, who brought Baby Falak to the hospital, has been placed in a juvenile home and has been interviewed at length by members of the Child Welfare Committee. She reportedly told them that a man she had been staying with brought baby Falak a month back to be raised as their child. She has also alleged that she has been sexually abused by that man and that she had eloped with him last year. Medical tests to determine the teenager's condition will be reported on the 31st of this month. Doctors say her abuse may have traumatised the teen into battering the baby she was looking after. The teenager's father will also be questioned by the police today as the girl has alleged that she left her home because of ill-treatment by her father.
Baby Falak's story has struck at the very heart of the nation with offers of help pouring in from across India and abroad.
"There are some NGOs which have approached us and we are in talks with them," said Dr Mishra. But the authorities at the AIIMS Trauma Centre insist that as long as the baby is in their care they will bear all the expenses.
Moved by the case, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has also promised long-term assistance and supervision and all possible help to the girl.