Kerala High Court grants bail to woman accused of throwing her newborn from balcony

The Kerala High Court on Monday granted bail to a woman accused of throwing her newborn baby from the balcony of her apartment in Kochi's Panampilly Nagar..The incident resulted in the death of the newborn.The woman had given birth to the child in her bathroom on May 3 without the knowledge of anyone. Justice CS Dias granted her bail considering the fact that she was only 23-years-old and was an alleged survivor of rape who had spent over 80 days in judicial custody.The woman was ordered to be released on executing a bond of ₹1 lakh with two solvent sureties of the like sum.The Court also imposed certain conditions while granting her bail such as to appear before the Investigating Officer at regular intervals and surrender her passport. .The 23-year-old woman was arrested and charged with murder after a plastic bag with the deceased newborn was found by passers by on the morning of May 3. Police officers were able to identify her by scanning the barcode on the plastic bag which was from an online shopping platform. According to the prosecution, with the intention to conceal the birth, the accused woman covered the baby's face and nose with a cloth, placed the newborn in a bag and threw it on the road. The infant allegedly lost his life due to the fall from the building.However, before the High Court, it was argued on behalf of the woman that it was a still birth and that there was no evidence to show that she had murdered the child. It was also contended that the child was the result of rape and that she was falsely implicated in the crime by the investigating officer. .Considering these circumstances, the Court ultimately deemed it fit to grant her bail. .The petitioner-accused was represented by Senior Advocate P Vijayabhanu and advocates Geo Paul, CR Pramod, Jacob George Pallath, Naveen TU, S Ashok Kumar, Harikrishnan AS, Akshai KR, Mariyam Mathews, and CB Gautham.Additional Director General of Prosecution Grashious Kuriakose appeared for the State. .Disclosure: The reporter's spouse is one of the counsel for the accused in the case..[Read Order]