An unwed mother recently reclaimed her baby whom she had abandoned in an Ammathottil (public cradle) in Thiruvananthapuram early this year.
The woman returned home with her baby last week after a DNA test confirmed her relationship with the child. The mother is believed to have left for a Gulf country where she is employed.
The woman reportedly told the authorities that she was forced to abandon the child after its father refused to marry her and attempted to give the child in illegal adoption. She said the child was abandoned Ammathottil so as to keep it safe. The family of the woman did not know about the child, she reportedly informed the authorities.
Protection from law
The Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, which prescribes punishment for abandoning or wilfully neglecting a child, protects its biological parents from penal action if the abandonment is ‘due to circumstances beyond their control.’
The mother had approached the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Thiruvananthapuram, in February this year to get the infant back after noticing its photograph in a newspaper advertisement, which stated that the baby was to be given in adoption.
Proof submitted
In her email, the mother had asked the CWC to put on hold the adoption proceedings. She had also shared the documents of the baby and its photographs with her as proof.
On her complaint, the CWC had asked the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare to stop the adoption proceedings, besides ordering a DNA test. The DNA test confirmed her relationship with the child, according to sources.
