Mumbai: In diapers, lying in her mother’s lap and yet to sprout teeth, but Zoya is an accused in a dowry harassment case. The two-month-old baby was named along with seven adults by her stepmother in a complaint letter to the police. What is worse is that the police has included the child’s name in the FIR.

Zoya - who should be playing in crib - had to spend several hours in a police station with her mother, foregoing food and sleep and came very close to being arrested.

Her mother, Reshma Shamsuddin Khan, pleaded with the police. “Sahab ye toh choti bacchi hai. Iska aapne kaise complaint le liye. Toh woh bole nai kuch problem nahin hai, hota hai saat-aath saal ke bachi ka bhi hamare paas case hai. Tab humney socha ke court jayenge. (I told them that she is a baby and how can you write her name in the FIR. The policemen said that it was no big deal and that they had other cases against young children too. That’s when we decided to go to court.”)

Not surprisingly, Zoya is the youngest bail applicant before the Mumbai Sessions Court. She was granted anticipatory bail on Sunday and is now safely in her mother’s care.

The defense lawyer, Ashok Bhole said, “My client called me and told me everything. I saw that the child’s name was also in the complaint, so I quickly filed a bail application in the sessions court.”

Meanwhile, legal experts are stunned to say the least.

Advocate Usha Makasare says, “It is crazy. Unheard of. We will have to see under what circumstances the court has given this order.”

In all this, one wonders what prompted the complainant to drag the child into the mess and worse still, was it right for the police to have even called the child to the police station? The officer who is to blame for this bizarre incident has now been suspended and the child’s name removed from the FIR.

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