Callous Tihar woke up after baby of woman who gave birth in jail died

By Neetu Chandra
MydeaMedia 

Even the worst of criminals have certain rights under the Indian justice system. In the case of Tanuja Gnanadurai, though, the Tihar Jail authorities thought otherwise.

 

Tanuja, alias Sonia Mann, is a conwoman who landed in Tihar last November for defrauding people. While the courts are yet to decide whether she is guilty or not, the 29- year-old has already been punished in the most traumatic way.

 

Tanuja was heavily pregnant when she was arrested in connection with a fake job racket on November 2, 2011. But the callous Tihar authorities did not bother to provide her any medical facility.

Tanuja Gnanadurai¿s baby was born in Tihar without any medical help on November 2, 2011, and died of spinal injury four days later

It was after she delivered the baby prematurely that they finally woke up. They took her and the baby to a hospital. But the baby's spinal cord had broken during the unassisted delivery in the jail and it died a few days later.

'She was pregnant when sent to Tihar. She was never taken to any hospital for medical check-ups. She delivered the baby on November 28. It was then that she and the baby were taken to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya hospital but the baby died after four days,' a person close to Tanuja said.

That was not the end of Tanuja's ordeal. She was not even let off for the baby's burial. It was at the court's intervention that she got bail to perform the baby's last rites.

'After the baby died, she was sent back to Tihar. The infant's body was lying in the mortuary for more than 20 days as Tanuja's family has abandoned her. She was finally granted bail to perform the last rites of the baby,' the person said.

Tanuja was granted bail on December 24 by a Saket court. Tanuja is currently out on bail, but still incarcerated in misfortunes. Her family has already cutoff all ties with her, not because she took to crime but because she was an unwed mother. Not even the death of her baby moved them. None of her relatives came to perform the last rites of the baby.

The Tihar authorities are, however, indifferent and say she wasn't given any medical help because she did not inform them that she was pregnant.

'She didn't disclose her pregnancy . When she was brought here, she wrote her marital status as 'single'. She was a little overweight, so the medical team couldn't figure out she was pregnant,' Sunil Gupta, public relation officer of Tihar, said.

The explanation is baffling as, by Gupta's own admission, she was seven months pregnant.

'She delivered the baby on the night of November 28. As soon we came to know, Tanuja and the baby were rushed to DDU Hospital. The doctors said the baby was born premature in the seventh month,' he said.

Gupta added: 'We don't know who was the father of her child. We have proper pre- and post-natal medical facilities inside the jail provided a person tells us that she is pregnant. Special care is also given to the mother and the child.'

Tanuja is from Chennai. Her father is a retired railway officer. The police arrested her from PVR Saket where she and her accomplice Vijaypal, 30, were fighting with four youths, who alleged that the duo cheated them of `10 lakh by promising them merchant navy jobs in Canada.

Tanjua was allegedly taking the help of some Nigerian nationals in creating fake email IDs, hacking emails, and gaining access to high commissions and embassies.

MydeaMedia@2012