Illegal adoption thrives on weak law

KOZHIKODE: The huge gap between the children fit for adoption and the prospective parent waiting for adoption in the state is triggering illegal adoption.  A weak law is also emboldening the trend.

According to figures provided by the State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA), there are 789 parents in the queue waiting for adoption but only 129 kids available. 

This situation  has provoked many educated couples to go for illegal adoption. According to Anju Mohan,  Child Protection Officer (CPO) in Kannur,  three cases of illegal adoption were reported in the last three months. 

“These are only the  tip of the iceberg. So many cases are going  unnoticed with the connivance of private hospitals and clinics,” she said. A CPO in southern district said  that there were rackets involving agents, lawyers and clinics running illegal adoption as a business. “They tap the childless situation of the couple and would fix a deal with a pregnant woman who hails from a poor  background,” he said.

At present, even if the CPOs reported the illegal adoption, there is no stringent law to deal with it. “There is no penal provision to prevent this. If you get clinching evidence of exchanging money in lieu of the kid, it is fit for a case, which is very rare,” explains Sheeba Mumtaz, CPO in Kozhikode district.

In 2014 alone, five such sold out incidents were tracked and in all cases, the children were bought by childless couples.

Recently, Payyannur police  registered a case against a gynaecologist and two other doctors for allegedly selling a new-born for Rs 6 lakh. 

The  case of a three-and- a-half-year-old boy sold by the biological mother on  the premise of Adoor Government hospital was revealed recently. In Pathanamthitta, a widow gave birth in an extramarital affair and she sold off the baby to a childless couple in Ranni with the help of a lawyer. In Kasargod, four were arrested for selling a one-and-half- year-old boy and a six-month-old baby girl for Rs 3.25 lakh.