An Indian woman who threw her 19-month-old daughter into the Hudson River's cold water in New York and then jumped in herself has pleaded that her shocking act was a result of bipolar disorder.

Devi Silvia's lawyer has argued that her shocking act was a result of bipolar disorder, which the defendant has recently been diagnosed with. But the prosecutors have said that she acted in such a way to take revenge on her husband.

The baby Jessica Prithiviraj survived but contracted hypothermia and was blue when recovered from the river.          

Devi, 33, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges and asked Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lewis Stone to release her in her husband's care until she faced trial.

Her husband was present at the hearing and sat teary eyed in the courtroom, according to the New York Post.

"This is a woman who threw her baby into the Hudson river," the judge said, adding that is an "extraordinary event for someone who has no prior contact with the criminal justice system".

The judge asked for more details on the psychiatric treatment plans of the defendant and put off the bail decision till Friday, according to the Post.

"She is a very dedicated mother; she is a very dedicated wife," said Seema Iyer, the lawyer said of Silvia.

Silvia is an Indian national who has a master's degree in math and teaches high-school students in Tamil Nadu.

She and her husband J Prithiviraj recently arrived from India and lived in New York, California and Illinois.

Prithiviraj now works for Oracle Corp, a California-based software company, and they have two children.

The troubled mother had reportedly told her husband that she wanted to return with the children to India but had been advised to wait.

Silvia is not allowed to leave the country. She is being held in a locked psychiatric jail ward in Elmhurst Hospital and has also been barred from any contact with the baby.

The two children, Jessica, and her six-year-old sister will move back to India tomorrow to live with their father's sister.

Iyer also asked the judge to keep cameras out of the courtroom to protect the children from unnecessary scandal of finding their mother's story splashed across Indian newspapers when they reached India.

The older sister does not know her mother threw her baby sister into the water.

"We are extremely concerned that while the children are in India, they will absolutely 100 percent find out what has occurred here," the Post quoted lawyer as saying.

"They are working very hard to protect those children."