Facing heat over a CPI(M) leader being booked on a complaint by his daughter of separating her from her newborn, the State Government has ordered an investigation into the incident even as the ruling party said it wanted the mother to get her child back.
Minister for Women and Child Development Veena George on Friday entrusted Women and Child Development secretary Rani George with the probe into a complaint by Anupama S. Chandran against her father and CPI(M) local committee member P.S. Jayachandran of taking away her child and abandoning it at the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare in the capital.
The Minister said a department-level probe had been ordered and a comprehensive report sought. All proceedings from the time the child was apparently received at the council’s electronic cradle ‘Ammathottil’ would be examined.
On the claim of Anupama’s father that the infant was given up with his daughter’s consent, the Minister said the child either had to have been abandoned in the Ammathottil or presented in front of the District Child Welfare Committee with the mother legally agreeing to surrender the child. In this case, the child had not been presented in front of the CWC.
DNA test
As per the council, two children had been received at the Ammathottil during the time cited. The DNA of one of the two children had been tested, and the child was found unrelated to Anupama and her partner Ajith, the Minister clarified. In such a situation, the statements of employees of the council then would be taken to determine what transpired there, the Minister said.
The Minister stressed that it was important that the mother got her child back and the child got to live with its parents in a safe environment.
CPI(M) district secretary Anavoor Nagappan, whom Anupama had got in touch with earlier to get her child back, said the party had limitations in intervening in the matter. Anupama, he said, was told that the issue could not be sorted out at the party level and to seek legal recourse.
“The mother should get her baby...that is the party’s stand,” he said. Anupama’s father had also been advised to do the same.
Anupama has filed a complaint with the Governor as well in connection with the case. During a discussion with a prominent news channel, Anupama said she would stage a one-day fast in front of the Secretariat on Saturday to seek the return of her child and press for steps by the authorities in this regard.
Meanwhile, the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has taken cognisance of Anupama and her partner Ajith’s complaint to the commission.
Commission member Fr. Philip Parakatt, on Friday, issued a notice to the State Police Chief, District Police Chief, Station House Officer (SHO) of the Peroorkada police station, District Child Protection Officer (DCPO), District CWC, and the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare, and sought reports within October 30.
The police, which finally registered a case six months after the mother lodged a complaint, sought the details of the case from the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare, but was told that the adoption details of children could not be divulged. The police have also written to the District CWC, and the State Adoption Resource Agency to obatin the adoption details.
Anupama had alleged that her family was against her relationship with Ajith, and soon after she gave birth, her baby was taken away by her parents and other family members.
See also page 6 (reference)
