Baby's day out turns into a disaster for daddy

Train commuters almost lynch father of 2-month-old, as they suspect he kidnapped her

Train commuters almost lynch father of 2-month-old, as they suspect he kidnapped her

Whose baby is it anyway? A suspicious mob aboard a local train almost lynched a man carrying an infant at Bhandup station, as they assumed that the baby had been kidnapped, only to discover later that the man was the father of the child.

Vijay Singh (35) was returning to his Thane residence in an Ambernath- bound local, which he boarded from Kurla at 10 pm yesterday, with his two-month-old daughter Varsha.
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Daddy's girl: Varsha took in the commotion surrounding her and her father Vijay Singh with wide-eyed wonder.

A man travelling in a luggage compartment with an infant was rare, thought fellow passengers and they smelt a rat.

Suspecting that Singh had kidnapped the child, they began questioning him.
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Refusing to believe that he was indeed the father, they forced him to disembark at Bhandup station and the mob started pushing him around.
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The commotion drew the attention of the railway police who intervened and controlled the furious crowd.

"Singh had a scuffle with his wife Seema, who had gone to stay with her relatives in Bandra. Since she was away for nearly three weeks, he went with the baby to persuade her to return home.

However, the mother refused to budge. A dejected Singh was returning home when passengers raised an alarm as they suspected he had kidnapped the child," said officer Sugandha Bagul of the Mulund railway police station, where father and daughter were taken.

"It didn't help that Singh was travelling in the luggage compartment. Commuters, today, are far more aware, but unfortunately this time they doubted an innocent man," she added.

Lucky escape

It was indeed a narrow escape for Singh and he couldn't thank the cops enough. "I'm lucky to be alive. The police came in time to save me.

The crowd would have killed me and what would have happened to my baby then," said Singh, who along with his four other children, lives at Wagle Estate in Thane.
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"I travelled with my baby because she's only two months old and needs her mother," he added.u00a0

Varsha's mother was summoned to the police station for her statement before the two were released.