Daily News Magazine from India & around the world.

There was high drama at the Amritsar airport on Wednesday afternoon when an unmarried girl, on her way from Turkmenistan to India, gave birth on board the flight.

Desperate to hide the baby, the unwed mother then dumped it in the aircraft’s toilet and walked off coolly. But the baby was recovered by the aircraft crew and rushed to an Amritsar hospital, where he is said to be in a critical condition.

The girl, Amandeep Kaur Mann - she hails from Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district — was apprehended at the airport terminal when she attempted to flee.

According to sources, Mann, who is an MBBS student, had boarded the Turkmenistan Airlines flight from the national capital, Ashgabat. She appeared in distress during the flight and made frequent visits to the aircraft toilet. In fact, the visits were so frequent that some co-passengers and an airhostess asked Mann if all was well with her. She said she was unwell and needed to relieve herself frequently.

When the plane landed at Amritsar’s Rajasansi International Airport, Mann got off the aircraft and walked off. A while later, the crew members were shocked to hear a baby crying in the toilet. They rushed him to the hospital and also alerted the airport staff. The sources said Mann — who was rounded up by the Central Industrial Security Force ( CISF) personnel — initially refused to admit she had given birth to the child. But she broke down during questioning by the police.

Mann has also been hospitalised, the police said. At the airport, Mann’s family members who had come to receive her were left red-faced after her mid-air delivery came to light. The police have registered a case against the girl for an act done with the intent of preventing the child from being born alive or to cause it death after birth ( Section 315 IPC).