Six trafficked children, separated from their caregivers after the Mysuru district police unearthed an illegal adoption racket in November last year, can now look forward to meeting them.
Savitha P.R., Principal first Civil Judge, Mysuru, on Tuesday granted the caregivers — of five trafficked children including Usha, one of the accused in the child trafficking racket, besides one biological mother — visitation rights once every fortnight.
In adoption agencies
The children are now housed in three specialised adoption agencies in the city and in Mandya. A couple from Thrissur in Kerala, who were the caregivers of a four-year-old boy, met him at Bapuji Children’s Home in Mysuru on Wednesday after the court verdict.
A one-and-half-year-old trafficked child, now under the care of Vikasana Child Care Home in Mandya, has become the bone of contention between the biological mother from K.R. Nagar in Mysuru district and the caregivers, who claim that the mother had voluntarily handed over the child to them.
Though the court had refused to hand over custody of the child to the biological mother as she was unable to either identify the father or convince the court of her ability to take care of the child, it granted her visitation rights.
However, the biological mother and the caregivers have been given separate date and time for visiting the child in the adoption agency.
“They can meet the children for two hours twice a month,” said Mr. Baburaj P., counsel for two caregiver-couples.
Racket unearthed
The Mysuru district police had unearthed a child adoption racket in October-November 2016 and separated 16 children from their caregivers. One of the trafficked children, a 14-month-old baby girl, died in Vikasana in Mandya in May this year.
After the Mysuru court’s ruling granting visitation rights to five caregiver couples, two more caregiver couples filed petitions before the court on Wednesday seeking similar rights.
