Climax In Adoption Row! One-Year-Old's DNA Matches With Parents In Kerala

The southern states of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh are battling over the adoption of a one-year-old, who was allegedly put up for adoption by his grandfather without the biological parents' consent. The baby has been brought back to Kerala' Capital, Thiruvananthapuram, and both DNA samples proved that the baby is the biological son of Anupama (22) and Ajith (34).

The couple had been protesting outside an adoption agency in Kerala, demanding the return of their missing son. The woman holds a placard saying, "Give me my baby". Anupama alleges that her father put up her child for adoption without her consent, which the father denies straightaway.

An Intercaste Affair

Last year, on October 19, Anupama birthed a baby boy out of wedlock with a man named Ajith, who was already married but had separated from his wife and had no children. The 22-year-old had battled societal pressures to give birth to the baby with Ajith, who worked as a PR officer for a hospital. Anupama and Ajith had grown up in the same neighbourhood and belonged to families that strongly supported the ruling Communist Party(CPI) in the state. When Anupama was studying Physics for her graduation, she was selected as the first woman head of the Student's Union of Communist Party in her college. During the same time, Ajith was the leader of the youth wing of the party. Incidentally, Anupama belonged to a higher caste, whereas Ajith belonged to the Dalit community.

Both of them had initially been friends. Then, they decided to begin their relationship and started living together. Anupama broke the news of her pregnancy to her parents just a month and a half before her delivery, leaving her parents 'shocked'. Her father is a bank manager and a local party leader, while her grandparents held positions of influential trade unionists and municipal councillors. They asked her to shift to their house and forbade her from keeping any relations with Ajith.

After the delivery, when Anupama was discharged from the hospital, her parents came to take her and the child home. They asked her to stay at a friend's home for three months until her younger sister's marriage. The parents said that they did not want to answer intrusive questions about the newborn from the guests. However, when she returned to her home for her sister's wedding in February and the newborn was nowhere to be found. The family shuffled her between two homes in the next few months before finally taking her to her grandmother's house, located about 200 km away.

Unknown Name Under The Column For Father's Name

According to the international news media, BBC, Anupama claimed that her father took her son on the pretext of a car ride while going back from the hospital. She said, "He told me he was taking the child to a safer place where I could meet him later". She further added that her bundle of joy just disappeared.

Finally, she left her parents' house in March this year and started living with Ajith and his parents. When they inquired from the hospital, they found that the child's birth certificate had some unknown man's name as the father, not Ajith.

When Anupama went to the Police station, she was told that her father had filed a missing complaint about her. In August this year, the Police gave a piece of surprise news to them, saying that Anupama's father claimed to have put her son up for adoption with her consent. The troubled couple ran pillar to post and complained to the ruling party, the adoption agency, the Chief Minister and the state's police chief. The couple also filed a complaint against Saji Cheriyan, the minister of culture for the state, who said that Anupama's parents did what everyone would do.

Pillar To Post Struggle Of The Distraught Couple

Politicians finally sat up and noticed the complaints when the couple went to news networks to complain. The Opposition grabbed the opportunity and called it an honour crime. S. Jayachandran, Anupama's father defended his actions and said, "When something like this happens in our home, how do we handle it? I left the baby at the place where Anupama wanted him to be. She had nowhere to protect the child. We can't do it either". He said that his daughter told him that Ajith was a man who had a wife; therefore, he did not want Anupama and her child to stay with him. Moreover, the new mother kept unwell after the delivery, and hence, he claimed that he put the child up for adoption.

Jayachandran reportedly put the child up for adoption after discussing the case with the Communist Party and a lawyer. Following the media uproar, Police have registered a case against six people, including Jayachandran, his wife, Anupama's sister and her brother-in-law. They face charges of wrongful confinement, kidnapping and forgery: all of which they have denied the allegations.

Meanwhile, the adoption agency had handed over the baby to the foster parents in Andhra Pradesh, and he has now been brought back to the state. The court had ordered a DNA test to establish if the baby was biologically son to Anupama and Ajith. The DNA samples matched, and Anupama and Ajith could see their son, now over a year old, while playing at a home run for children by the charity.

On the other hand, emotional scenes unfolded when Kerala State Council for Child Welfare (KSCCW) officials reached the foster parents' house in Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh, who was given custody of the child after Anupama's father put the baby up for adoption.

The Andhra couple bid farewell to the child with several dresses and gifts. The foster parents had informed the officials that they had taken custody of the child after finishing all legal proceedings. Even though they were heartbroken, the foster parents said that the biological mother of the child should get justice, and with that, the custody of the child.

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