It was an emotional meeting between a six-and-a-half-year-old girl and her ‘amma’ and ‘acchan’, whom she had not seen for the last six months.
Asha and Suresh Babu, the couple from Thrissur, who were the caregivers of the girl till the Mysuru district police busted a child trafficking racket in November last year, were allowed by the High Court of Karnataka to meet her for an hour at Bapuji Children’s Home in Mysuru on Tuesday.
The girl, who was among the 16 children allegedly sold to childless couples, had been staying with her foster parents in Thrissur since she was 27 days old.
On Tuesday, while Ms. Asha broke down and Mr. Babu fought back tears, the girl, though visibly happy, was unable to converse in her mother tongue Malayalam. “She was chatty, but could barely speak Malayalam. She was conversing in Kannada for the first couple of minutes. She began speaking in Malayalam only towards the fag end of the meeting,” said a source accompanying the couple.
The couple had to hand her over to the Mysuru District Child Welfare Committee (CWC) after the police unearthed the racket. “The girl was going to class 1 in Thrissur. When she was brought to Mysuru, she was told that she was being admitted to a different school and they would come and see her soon,” the source said.
Among other things, the girl also asked about their relatives and others with whom she used to interact with, the source said. After the hour-long meeting concluded, the emotional couple promised to return to meet her again.
Baburaj, counsel for the couple, said they met the child in the presence of police officials from V.V. Puram station. “The couple was not allowed to give anything to the girl. But, they gave some snacks and clothes to the children’s home,” Mr. Baburaj said.
He said 16 children traced by the Mysuru district police from different places in Kerala and Karnataka were produced before the CWC and sent to three different childcare homes.
“Though the couple had filed an application before CWC for foster care of their child under Section 44 of Juvenile Justice Act, the CWC has not taken any decision even after four months. So, they approached the High Court seeking visitation rights and custody under foster care,” Mr. Baburaj said. “Considering the intimacy and bonding that had developed between the couple and the child, the Bench of Justice B. Veerappa made an interim order by granting them permission to meet the girl,” he added.
