'Fine officer, true mother,' HC praises Kerala cop for breastfeeding starving 12-day-old infant

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High Court has showered praises on the woman police officer who breastfed a 12-day old baby, separated from its mother due to a row between the parents, to save its life.

Kerala High Court judge Justice Devan Ramachandran in a letter to the State Police Chief (SPC), appreciated the spontaneous compassion shown by Civil Police Officer (CPO) M R Ramya and also sent a certificate to be handed over to her, a statement issued by the State Police Media Cell said on Monday.

In the certificate, Justice Ramachandran has said, "You are, today, the face of policing at its best. A fine officer and a true mother - you are both!

"The nectar of life is a divine gift, which only a mother can give and you offered it while on duty. You keep alive the hope of humanism for the future in all of us."

Besides that, SPC Anil Kant also presented the CPO with a commendation certificate after inviting her and her family to the Police Headquarters here, the statement said.

Kant also said that her actions enhanced the reputation of the force, according to the statement.

“I was not concerned about anything else. I just wanted to save the life of the baby when I heard about the child's low sugar levels.My motherly instincts awoke beneath my uniform at the time,” Ramya said.

The incident occurred on October 29, when the baby's mother lodged a complaint at the Chevayur police station in Kozhikode claiming that her child was missing and that due to a dispute with her husband, he had taken away the infant, it said.

On the conclusion that the father may have gone to Bengaluru, where he works, with the child, the police stations on the Wayanad border were alerted and during checking of vehicles at the state border, the Sultan Bathery police found the baby and the father, the statement said.

The infant was rushed to a hospital as it appeared exhausted due to lack of breast milk and there it was found that the baby's sugar level was low, it said.

On hearing this, Ramya, who was part of the police team from Chevayur which had gone to Wayanad to bring back the infant, informed doctors that she was a nursing mother and thereafter, breastfed the baby, saving its life, the statement said.

That same night, the baby was brought to the mother, it added.

Ramya, a native of Chingapuram in Kozhikode district, had recently rejoined duty after her maternity leave. She has two children, aged four years and one year, and her husband is a school teacher, the statement said.

She had joined the police force four years ago after completing her training in the second batch of the women's battalion and had thereafter served in the fourth squad of the armed police battalion, it said.

(With PTI inputs.)