Kerala Baby Kidnap Case: Woman Gets Custody Of Her Infant Son

One year of waiting and weeks of legal battles, protests, and controversies came to an end as Anupama S Chandran finally held her infant son soon after she stepped out of a court complex in Thiruvananthapuram along with her partner Ajith today afternoon. The development comes a day after the DNA tests on the infant, Anupama and Ajith established the couple as the parents.

She was awarded the custody of her child - whom she had last seen when the infant was three days old - after a family court today ordered that the child be handed over to his biological parents.

The child had been under the care and protection of his adoptive parents in Andhra Pradesh till last Sunday.

Emerging from the court complex, the family travelled by car to the site of Anupama's protest these last few days, in front of the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare (KSCCW) headquarters. "I got my child. He is in the car. I am very happy now. I wish to spend time with my child," she told reporters.

When the court began its proceedings at 2:30 pm, the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) submitted the results of the DNA tests before it. During the one-and-a-half hour-long proceedings held in the chamber of the judge, the baby, who was in the custody of CWC at the Nirmala Sishu Bhavan, was produced before the court following its directive. The court then directed that the baby be medically examined and after completing all legal formalities, ordered the CWC to hand over the child to his mother.

The court had posted the matter for November 30 but had rescheduled the hearing to today after the government pleader appealed to hand over the baby to its parents at the earliest.

Anupama (22) and her partner Ajith have been protesting in front of the KSCCW office in Thiruvananthapuram for some days, demanding to get their child back.

The woman's allegation that her child was forcibly taken away from her by her father, a local CPI(M) leader, triggered a political controversy following which the government had ordered a departmental probe into the incident.

Anupama had accused her parents of forcibly taking away her newborn child soon after his birth a year ago and alleged that although she had complained about it to the police several times since April, they were reluctant to register a case against her family members.

However, the police in Thiruvananthapuram's Peroorkkada said a case was registered against six people - Anupama's parents, sister, sister's husband, and two of her father's friends - and that the delay occurred since they were awaiting legal opinion.