Govt, Oppn spar over 'missing' baby in Kerala Assembly

The Kerala Assembly on Tuesday witnessed angry exchanges between the Treasury and Opposition benches over the "missing" baby case involving a local CPI-M leader and his wife.

As soon as the House met, the Congress-led Opposition took up the issue underlining the controversial manner in which state agencies played "foul" in handing over a baby boy born to a 22-year-old SFI student activist to an Andhra couple.

Seeking leave for adjournment motion, Revolutionary Marxist Party of India member K.K. Rema sought a judicial probe into the episode.

"There has been a serious flaw in the way a few state agencies and the Kerala Police handled this sensitive issue. A mother had to run from pillar to post for six months and approached the Chief Minister, police chief and various other agencies, including the CPI-M party leaders, but nothing happened.


"It was only after the media took up the case that things started to change. Various state agencies responsible for safe handling of such issues did not do anything. The way they acted should be probed and we demand a judicial probe into it," she said.

When she exceeded the time limit while speaking, Speaker K.K. Rajesh muted her mike leading to angry exchanges with the Opposition trooping into the well of the house.

Defending her government, State Minister for Health and Social Justice Veena George said, "No one came asking for the child believed to be that of Anupama. Two babies were received by the agency on October 23 and the DNA of one child did not match with the woman. The other child has been given to a couple in Andhra Pradesh. A detailed probe is currently on and the court is also looking into this case," said George.


Joining the issue was Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan who slammed the various agencies for adoptions calling them "feeder organisations" of the CPI-M.

"It's a shame that agencies concerned did not do their job and instead joined hands with the "tormentors". What's most surprising is that all these agencies, including the police, are functioning like party organisations," said Satheesan before staging a walk-out with the entire opposition.

Incidentally, after almost six months of knocking on all doors in vain, the aggrieved couple finally got a huge relief on Monday, when a court here stayed all further adoption of their baby boy.


The young mother, hailing from the state capital city, has been running from pillar to post to get back her child which, she claimed, was snatched by her parents last October, immediately after she gave birth at a hospital here.

Daughter of a local CPI-M leader Jayachandran, Anupama fell in love with the youth wing leader of the party -- Ajith, a Dalit Christian, who was already married.

After Ajith got officially divorced early this year, the two have been living together.


The first person in the CPI-M that Anupama complained to, was politburo member Brinda Karat and despite her efforts to take up this case with top state leaders, nothing happened.

Even though she is the granddaughter of one of the top most yesteryear CPI-M leaders in the state capital city, her parents allegedly used all the influence to ensure that she does not get custody of the child till it grabbed the media attention.

With the court also stepping in and action initiated, her parents and four others who played "dirty" have sought anticipatory bail - IANS