Describe the offences of concealment of birth and of exposure and abandonment of a child.

The Offence

• The offence is complete whether the child died before, during or after birth. This is its whole significance: it requires NO proof of live birth, and therefore no proof that any killing occurred
• It is therefore the charge that succeeds where infanticide cannot be proved — which is the great majority of cases, because the body is usually decomposed and the hydrostatic test uninterpretable by the time it is found
• What must be proved — that there was a child; that it is dead; that the body was secretly disposed of; and that this was done with the intention of concealing the birth
• "Secret disposal" is a question of fact — burial, throwing into a well, drain, river or refuse heap, leaving in a bag or box, or hiding in the house. Mere concealment of the pregnancy is not the offence; there must be disposal of the body
• The mother is the usual accused, but any person who assists is liable; and a doctor or nurse who disposes of a body to conceal a birth commits the offence, which is a real risk where a delivery has occurred in circumstances the institution wishes to keep quiet

Exposure and Abandonment

• Exposure and abandonment (BNS 93; formerly IPC 317) — a father or mother, or a person having the care of a child under 12 years, who exposes or leaves it in any place with the intention of wholly abandoning it, is punishable with imprisonment up to 7 years
• The child need not die, and the offence is complete on abandonment. But if the child dies, the person may be liable for culpable homicide or murder, since the abandonment was an act likely to cause death
• Death from exposure follows from hypothermia, starvation, dehydration, animal attack or drowning, and the autopsy shows the findings of those mechanisms together with the absence of any care — an unwashed body, vernix still present, an untied cord, no clothing and no feed in the stomach
• Safe alternatives exist and should be known — the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 provides for surrender of a child before the Child Welfare Committee with a reconsideration period, and for adoption; cradle (palna) schemes allow anonymous surrender at designated centres; and childline 1098 is the national helpline. A doctor who knows of a woman contemplating abandonment can direct her to a lawful route

Applied Aspects

• Do not assume infanticide from a concealed body; the child may have been stillborn, and concealment is a separate and lesser offence that does not depend on how it died
• Report the findings on live birth honestly, including that they are uninterpretable where the body is decomposed; the charge that follows is a matter for the prosecution
• Record the manner of disposal and the container — a bag, box, cloth or newspaper — and preserve them; they may identify the person and the place
• Look for signs of care and its withdrawal — a washed and dressed child, a tied cord, feed in the stomach — which indicate that the child was attended and survived, and change the case entirely
• Never dispose of a body to spare an institution embarrassment; a doctor or nurse who does so commits the offence of concealment of birth themselves
• Know the lawful alternatives — the Child Welfare Committee, cradle schemes and childline — and offer them; a woman directed to a lawful surrender Concealment of birth requires no proof of live birth, which is why it succeeds where a murder charge cannot
• Exposure is complete on abandonment and does not require the child to die; if it does die, culpable homicide or murder may follow
• Concealing the pregnancy alone is not an offence; there must be secret disposal of the body of a child
• Look for the findings of neglect in an exposed newborn — unwashed, vernix present, cord untied, nothing in the stomach
• Any person assisting is liable, not only the mother, and this includes a relative, an attendant or a member of staff
• Record the place and manner of disposal precisely; it goes directly to the element of secrecy on which the offence turns
• Does not become an accused and a child does not die