Section 13B: Abandonment of child

13B. Abandonment of child (1) Any person who, for pecuniary gain or by gifts, promises, threats or abuse of authority, incites a parent to abandon a child or a child to be born shall commit an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to penal servitude for a term not exceeding 20 years. (2) Any person who, for pecuniary or other gain, acts as an intermediary between a person wishing to adopt a child and a parent willing to abandon a child or a child to be born, shall commit an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding 700,000 rupees and to penal servitude for a term not exceeding 30 years. (3) Any person who exposes and abandons in a secluded spot any child, and any person who orders the child to be exposed, where such order has been executed, shall, for such act alone, be liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding 500,000 rupees and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years. (4) Where, in consequence of the exposure and abandonment specified in subsection (3), the child becomes mutilated or lame, the offence shall be deemed to be a wound wilfully inflicted on such child by the person who has C13 – 13 [Issue 3] Child Protection Act so exposed and abandoned the child, and where death has ensued, the offence shall be deemed to be manslaughter, and in the former case, the offender shall suffer the punishment ordained for a wilful wound, and in the latter case, that for manslaughter. (5) Any person who exposes and abandons a child in a spot that is not secluded, shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding 200,000 rupees and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years. (6) Part X of the Criminal Procedure Act and the Probation of Offenders Act shall not apply to a person liable to be sentenced under this section. [S. 13B inserted by s. 3 of Act 34 of 2005 w.e.f. 17 December 2005; amended by s. 8 of Act 36 of 2008 w.e.f. 6 December 2008.]