Shocked by the fact that the cradle baby scheme introduced by the Tamil Nadu government in 1992 for newborn girls, remains active even after 24 years — with as many as 260 newborns abandoned in the cradle placed at the Government Rajaji Hospital here alone in the last six years — the Madras High Court’s Madurai Bench on Tuesday summoned the Directors of Social Welfare and Social Defence departments to find out if any study had been conducted to contain the trend by educating people.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Nagamuthu and M.V. Muralidaran ordered that the two Directors be present in the court on Wednesday to explain the steps taken by them to not only curb the practice of abandoning newborns but also prevent parents from selling their children. They also sought an explanation on why the government machinery did not act against over 600 unregistered child care homes in the State until the court took cognisance of the issue on November 11.
‘Saviour of babies’
“The issue is really heart-rending and serious. It is not known what steps are taken by the government to educate the people and to curb the menace of abandoning or selling newborns... We are also not informed about any study undertaken by the government to prevent this evil. We are pained to state that despite cognisance taken by this court with respect to illegal child care homes, no appreciable action has been taken so far,” the judges said, passing interim orders.
It was during the hearing of cases related to illegal child care homes that the Madurai District Social Welfare Officer told the court that even this month, two babies were abandoned in the cradle outside the maternity ward of the GRH. Stating that most of the babies were abandoned by unwed mothers, she said the cradle often ended up as a saviour of babies in very serious health conditions.
According to the DSWO, the abandoned babies were provided with quality treatment at the hospital before being shifted to either of the two government-recognised child care homes in the district and were given in adoption to domestic as well as foreign couples. The officer said the scheme’s aim was to prevent female infanticide or foeticide.
Wondering how many more years the practice could be allowed to go on, the judges asked the officer whether any programme had been devised to end the “heartless” act of abandoning newborns. Replying to this, the DSWO said awareness was being created through the media and Self Help Groups, besides interactive sessions among college girls. However, she was not aware of any study undertaken by the government so far.
On action taken against illegal child care homes, the Regional Deputy Director of Social Defence said only 820 out of 1,454 child care homes in the State had obtained registration from the department. He also told the court that 540 unregistered homes were closed down pursuant to a court direction on November 11, and the inmates of those homes integrated with their families or shifted to recognised homes.
