Two illegally adopted babies saved from village in Madurai

Madurai: A casual enquiry by a villager to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Madurai resulted in the rescue of two babies

who were illegally adopted by childless couples at Kuppalnatham village, about 50km from Madurai city. The couple had

adopted the babies from Hyderabad.

The babies aged 21 months and 3 months were rescued amidst high drama, with the illegal parents pleading with police not to

take away the children.

The illegal adoption came to light when a villager called the CWC on Thursday enquiring about the formalities for adopting a

child. The caller spilled the beans when the CWC started asking questions. Based on an alert from the CWC, superintendent of

police of Madurai district N Manivannan and a team led by the additional superintendent of police S Vanitha conducted the

rescue operation that started in the morning and went on till night.

Preliminary enquiry by police revealed that naickers are the dominant community at Kuppalnatham. “Some relatives of these

families had migrated to Hyderabad and nearby areas to earn a livelihood. They do odd jobs or run roadside shops there,” said

a police officer.

It is through those relatives in Hyderabad that the childless couples at Kuppalnatham illegally adopted the babies.

Kasiviswanathan, a lorry driver, and Mathuvathi who were married for 13 years but did not have children adopted a 24-day-old

girl baby about 20 months ago. She is 21 months old now.

Venkatesan, a farmer, and Dhanalakshmi who did not have children for 25 years adopted a 5-day-old baby and are raising her

for the past three months. There were unconfirmed claims that the babies were purchased for Rs 75,000 to Rs 1 lakh each.

On Friday afternoon, police led by Peraiyur sub division DSP Mathiyalagan, CWC members B Pandiaraja and L Shanmugam,

district child protection officer A Ganesan and personnel from the anti-human trafficking unit reached Kuppalnatham. Sensing

something wrong, more than 100 villagers surrounded the team.

As tension built up, ADSP Vanitha went to the spot and police explained to the villagers the seriousness of the issue. It was

found that the couples were not aware of the formalities involved in adopting children and they had been taking good care of

the babies. They requested the officials to allow them to spend two more days with the babies as they couldn’t bear to part

with them. Police explained that it is not legally possible and that the CWC will take a decision in the best interest of the

children.

CWC lodged a complaint with the Sedapatti police who said a case will be registered late on Friday night. Meanwhile, the

biological parents of the two babies were asked to appear before police for enquiry. An officer said they have started from

Hyderabad and are expected by Saturday.

“A probe will be conducted to find details about the sale of the babies and to ascertain if there are more such illegal adoptions,”

said a senior police officer.