Three newborn girls were abandoned by their parents in Hassan in the last month. The Child Welfare Committee rescued the babies and has provided them shelter.
In most cases, parents abandon baby girls, stating that they already have daughters.
In the first case, a woman, who was admitted to a private nursing home, and her husband were hoping for a boy as they had two daughters. When they saw that the newborn was a girl, they did not want to take her home.
The parents handed over the child to the Child Welfare Committee, despite hours of counselling by the committee members.
In the second case, a newborn girl was abandoned, near a temple at Channapatna, on the outskirts of the city on June 23.
The next day, a five-day old baby girl was rescued by the CWC, when she was being sold. The Pension Mohalla police took two people into custody.
“Not only these three, there are a few more girl babies, who were abandoned by their parents, in our custody,” said M.S. Madhura, chairperson of the CWC.
The abandoned babies are kept in the custody of the CWC, which functions under the Department of Women and Child Development. In cases of abandoned babies, the CWC publicises that the baby is in its custody and waits for 60 days before giving clearance for the child’s adoption. Sometimes, parents hand over babies to the CWC. In such cases, the parents have 45 days to change their minds and take their child back.
‘Parents were educated’“The mindset of wanting only boys has not changed. In the case of the baby who was born in a nursing home, both husband and wife were educated and from a well-to-do family. They did not want to take the baby home just because they had two daughters. Though we spoke to them for hours and tried to convince them, they did not relent,” Ms. Madhura said.
As per the preliminary investigation into the sale of the baby girl, the parents sold her for Rs. 4,000 because they too had two daughters. The woman, who bought the baby, wanted to sell her to another person for Rs. 20,000. So far, the police have not traced the baby’s parents.
Ms. Madhura added, “Not only newborns, we have rescued many four- or five-year-old girls, who were abandoned by their parents. They are provided shelter by the department.”
