'Family Court has taken steps': Kerala HC on 22-year-old woman's plea in missing child row

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday declined to hear SFI Leader Anupama S Chandran’s habeas corpus petition seeking directions made to Police to hand over her one-year-old baby. The Students’ Federation of India leader had asked the High Court to intervene in the matter and help her reunite with her child. 

It all started when the child was found missing three days after birth and a complaint was raised by the 22-year-old SFI leader and her husband.

Anupama alleged that her newborn baby was illegally detained by her parents last year. She alleged that her father, PS Jayachandran, who is a Communist Party of India (Marxist) local leader, took custody of the child. She alleged that he has denied her the basic human right of seeing her child, since 2020.

Kerala HC denies hearing plea, as the matter is pending before Family Court

However, the court denied hearing the plea, citing that the matter was pending before the Family Court and measures are being taken to bring back the child. The issue was being heard by the division bench of Justice K Vinod Chandran and C Jayachandran, who said, "The matter was already pending before the Family Court at Thiruvananthapuram. The Family Court has taken steps to bring the child back. There is no reason why we should intervene or extend our hand in the matter."

In her petition to the Kerala HC, the SFI leader pleaded, "The petitioner gave birth on 19th October 2020. But her parents, who were in the immediate custody of the child, forcefully took the newborn away without the consent or knowledge of the petitioner."

She said that her parents forcefully isolated her from her child. When the 22-year-old was infected with COVID-19, the child was taken away from her as a measure of precaution. "Since the petitioner was infected with COVID-19, the respondents forcefully isolated the child from his biological mother on the pretext of protecting the newborn from infection." 

In the plea, she continued to allege that her parents had conspired to separate the child from her, as they tried to surrender the newborn to an orphanage.

"Then they surrendered her infant to 'Amma Thottil', an organization run by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) after conspiring to hide the child's identity and to make him an orphan. The CWC does not comply with the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act regarding the surrender of an abandoned child.

The petitioner strongly believes the respondents with a common intention had aided, abetted and conspired to isolate a 4-day old child from its biological mother and denied it all the basic human rights of an infant," the petition further said. 

With ANI Inputs

Image: ANI