Thiruvananthapuram, (Samajweekly) A young Kerala mother, Anupama, on Thursday began an indefinite protest before the office of the Kerala State Child Welfare Council here, demanding the removal of the top office-bearers of the Council and the Child Welfare Committee, who she alleged are behind the handing over of her baby to adoptive parents.
Anupama has been fighting to get back her child allegedly given away to adoptive parents.
She told the media that all her pleas to authorities have fallen on deaf ears and there has been no further action by the Council and the Committee.
“We seek the removal of the top office-bearer’s of these two organisations. I did meet the State Minister for Women and Children, Veena George and she said to me that I should not be prejudiced, but I now find that the authorities are prejudiced.
“Even when the ongoing probe is currently on, how can the top office-bearers of these two organisations continue in their posts. The demand for a DNA test has been hanging fire for long. We seek justice and hence I decided to launch a protest,” said Anupama.
On Wednesday the young couple asked the state government to take custody of their child from the adoptive parents who are in Andhra Pradesh and they fear the child might be taken out of the country.
She said that the state government can keep the baby in its custody till the present court case is completed.
Twenty-two-year-old SFI activist Anupama, granddaughter of one of the topmost yesteryear CPI-M leaders in the state capital, and her husband Ajith — approached the State Police chief and the Child Welfare Committee in this regard.
The couple was forced to approach the media, after their pleas to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the state police chief, their party leaders and several other agencies went in vain. It was only after the media took up the case, that the government and the police began to act.
According to sources, the Child Welfare Committee had allegedly given away the baby boy of the couple to an Andhra Pradesh couple for adoption last year.
Soon after the media hype, a family court in the state capital put a stop to further proceedings of formalising the adoption.
Last week, Anupama had threatened that if things do not move fast, she will have to launch a protest to get justice and hence decided to start it from Thursday.
