A hospital in textile town Ichalkaranji has emerged as a suspected hub for ‘baby trade’, where a homeopath and his wife allegedly arranged illegal adoptions.

In a matter of months, two couples on a desperate quest for parenthood experienced the joy of bringing home an unwanted baby and the shock of seeing the child being taken away by authorities investigating trafficking and illegal adoptions.

This traumatic chapter for the Chahandes and the Sawais, from Chandrapur and Nerul, began with a phone call and a visit to the maternity hospital run by homeopath Dr Arun Patil in Ichalkaranji, a laid-back textile town about 382 km from Mumbai. It has tainted their dream of starting a family, and police and government officials suspect Dr Patil arranged, for a substantial fee, informal and illegal adoptions for many childless couples, who are probably not even aware they have committed a crime.

Dr Patil, his wife and the Chahandes, Manoj and Prerna, were arrested last week and face serious charges. The Sawais, Amol and Aarti, were briefly detained. They all deny wrongdoing.

Dr Patil, Mirror has learned, oversaw around 70 deliveries a month at his hospital, an unusually high number for a place like Ichalkaranji, but didn’t maintain a record in every case. Officials are reportedly exploring the line of inquiry that he built a network with unwed mothers and other women, including victims of sexual assault, not in a position to raise their children because of social and financial challenges. He allegedly advised them to sell the babies to couples eager to adopt one.

One of the questions that was asked with a significant frequency after we got to know the message of categorical support, for DNA and for Laura Kovesi, that President Klaus Iohannis gave on Thursday evening, was that if not somehow, through a similar declarations of accession, doesn't Mr. President flagrantly violate the provisions of the Constitution and, in this way, risks causing legitimate concerns, in particular, to our partners in the European Union? And here it is that not even two days have passed since, at the Palace in Dealul Cotrocenilor, Mr. President of all Romanians made these very controversial statements that we have received a categorical signal of concern, indeed another one expressed in very categorical terms :,,

There will be, for sure, also this time, some whiners who will reply that such statements are not new and that, in roughly the same terms, we have received numerous other warnings. Agreed, only this time the warning was issued by the chairman of the Bundestag European Affairs Committee himself, Gunther Krichbaum, who is publicly asking the European Commission President, Jean Claude Juncker, not only not to suspend the MCV for Romania, but to proceed to the initiation of the procedure provided for by Article 7 of the EU Treaty, which also provides for the loss of the right to vote in the EU Council, if it is found that that state has not respected the law and democratic norms. Or, after as Herr Gunther Krichbaum whispers, in a tone that does not admit of reply, like this and only like this, things must be seen!

Agree, and this time, you'll tell me that it's nothing new, because the MEP Cristian Preda, a well-known and fervent companion of the anti-Romanian ideals of the pro-European Monica Macova, had this exact idea. Which, also on the grounds/pretext of attacks on the independence of the judiciary, made the same proposal. Allow me, however, to add that it is not the first time that Herr Gunther Krichbaum shows his deep concern about the fate of the righteous DNA and of handcuff democracy. He did it a year ago, as in 2015, after publicly admitting that Romania meets the technical criteria to be admitted to the Schengen Area, his lordship raised the objection that "there are border guards (Romanians, of course not ) who accept benefits''. Where do we keep talking about corruption, right?

But wait a minute, as the saying goes, that's not all! For example, from information that circulates on media channels and which, so far, no one has contested, Herr Gerhard Krichbaum has certain connections with the Romanian lands and with everything special. Thus, as we learn from a material published in the July 8, 2015 edition of the "Jurnalului Na?ional", the wife of the fervent supporter of the multilateral cause-medal winner Laura Kovesi, was called Oana Harvalia before marriage, and the civil marriage took place at Sibiu, on November 5, 2010. Where, guess what, who was the mayor of the municipality?...

Did you somehow rush to hang up, thinking I had exhausted the list of coincidences? You don't even know what you were missing, because the big surprises will only come now. Find out, therefore, that, before becoming the wife of the influential German parliamentarian, Miss Oana Harvalia was Monica Macova's personal advisor during the period when she held the mandate of Minister of Justice. As, a few years before, his lordship held the position of executive director of the "Parents and Children" Foundation. A foundation whose main object of work was the adoption of children from Romania by families from other countries. How and under what conditions these adoptions were carried out, we learn from the statements of Teodora Bretzi, at that time secretary of state at the Romanian Adoption Office (ORA), also quoted in the article from the "National Journal":,,In Romania, adoptions were done on a conveyor belt. Adopted children were treated as a commodity''.

EXCLUSIVE: Top UNICEF children's rights campaigner - who led UK's anti-smacking campaign - is jailed for rape of boy, 13, in latest charity sex scandal

Peter Newell was a leading children's rights campaigner who worked for UNICEF

The 77-year-old, from London, led the UK's anti smacking campaign in a long and distinguished career

Newell also helped prepare UNICEF's Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child

But now he is facing six years and eight months in jail for the abuse of a young boy

A children’s rights activist has been jailed for six years and eight months for sexually abusing a boy in the 1960s.

Peter Newell was the former co-ordinator of the Association for the Protection of All Children charity.

The 77-year-old from Wood Green, north London, was sentenced last month at Blackfriars Crown Court.

He admitted five indecent and serious sexual assaults on a child under 16.

The Association for the Protection of All Children, or Approach, says its objectives are to prevent cruelty and maltreatment of children and advance public knowledge in the UK and abroad.

The children’s charity SOS Children’s Villages has admitted that it received 37 reports of the sexual abuse of children involving charity personnel in 2016.

The charity, based in Vienna, Austria, admitted the reports in the wake of the sex scandal involving the international charity Oxfam which was also accused of child sex abuse in South Sudan earlier this week.

The press officer for SOS Children’s Villages Cecilia Bergling Naucler said that while they did receive 37 reports of sex abuse, they did not want to identify those accused for “privacy reasons”, Swedish broadcaster SVT reports.

According to Ms. Naucler, the victims were “either children or young adults”. She added: “Due to confidentiality legislation and consideration for children and young people in our activities, we can not comment on individual cases or an exact number.”

The charity, Naucler said, tends to hire locals wherever it operates and the charity told the Swedish broadcaster: “In case of suspicion of serious abuse, notification is made to the police and judicial authorities, in accordance with the country’s current legislation.”

Photo: Edward Parsons/IRIN

(file photo)

By Abiy Hailu

According to a recent report by BBC, Ethiopia was among the biggest source countries for international adoptions by US citizens, accounting for about 20 per cent of the total. The most prominent of the adoption cases is that of Zahara Marley, who were adopted by the most famous Hollywood celebrities, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, back in 2005. Zahara's maternal grandmother once stated that Zahara was so "very fortunate" to have been adopted by Jolie.

But this has not always been the case. For instance, there is also this sad story of a teenage Ethiopian girl who was adopted by an American couple. Larry and Carri Williams of Washington state, starved and beat Hana Williams until she died in the backyard of their home in May 2011.

IG To Father Of Three, All Want To Adopt Abandoned Baby The state-run orphanage Rajkiya Bal Griha in Rampur has named her ‘Pari’. Officials at the lone orphanage for 13 districts in Uttar Pradesh, which houses 35 children, say the girl cannot be adopted for the next two months. (Express Photo/Gajendra Yadav)

She was found crying in a heap of garbage near the Moradabad highway. The six-month-old girl, dressed in a pink sweater and red trousers, had no name. Since then, her photographs have been splashed across local news channels, Facebook posts and WhatsApp groups in Moradabad, prompting more than 80 people — including a father of three sons, an IG-rank CISF officer from Delhi, a chemist and several residents of Bhikanpur Kulwara — to dial the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and local police, offering to adopt her.

Far removed from Moradabad, the girl sleeps in a cot at the state-run orphanage, Rajkiya Bal Griha, in Rampur. Officials at the lone orphanage for 13 districts in Uttar Pradesh, which houses 35 children, say the girl cannot be adopted for the next two months, until the CWC holds a committee meeting and deems it fit.

With police yet to track her parents, she has been given a name by the orphanage, Pari. “We name every child who comes here. She is a very beautiful girl… bilkul pari jaisi dikhti hai,” says Rakesh, the orphanage in-charge. Pari was found last Friday morning by Zayda, a resident of Bhikanpur Kulwara. Her neighbour, Salim, fed her milk meant for his eight-month-old son until police arrived. Zayda thought she would get to keep the girl. She smiled for photographs, posing with local police, until the infant was taken away from her. “I told them I had found her. They took her from me, and now the police are questioning us… The CWC people told me I have to register online to adopt the girl,” says Zayda.

Meanwhile, police are investigating phone calls received at the orphanage, claiming that the girl is from Dehradun. “There were some calls made to the orphanage, with the caller claiming to know her parents. We do not know if they are prank calls,” says Station Officer (Kundarki) Dheeraj Solanki.

Abandoned child in Rampur

Abandoned child in Rampur

RAMPUR: In a new twist to the case of a “cute” baby girl found abandoned in a garbage bin in Moradabad last week, superintendent of Rampur orphanage Rakesh Saxena said he has received unverified information about her parents. Saxena said he was told by an anonymous caller that the abandoned girl is the daughter of a Dehradun-based couple.

“The anonymous caller rang me up on Monday afternoon and again on Tuesday morning. Later, I got some clues to his identity through Truecaller. He told me that he identified the abandoned baby after watching news reports and knows her father and mother who used to be his good friends. The caller said that the couple used to often fight with each other after the man refused to accept the baby as his daughter,” the orphanage incharge said.

The superintendent has forwarded all details about the anonymous caller to the child welfare committee (CWC), Moradabad. According to the sources, the caller has also provided the numbers of the couple.

New Delhi: A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday seeking a direction to the Centre to adopt a "two-child" policy to combat the growing population.

The petition filed by Anupam Bajpai, national coordinator of Jeevan Bachao Andolan, through advocate Shiv Kumar Tripathi is expected to be heard next week.

The petition, while suggesting that the number of children in each family be restricted to two, has proposed that the Centre link various welfare measures to people only if they comply with the two-child policy.

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On 9 February, the Supreme Court took the extant government to task for the "tardy if not virtual non-implementation" of juvenile justice laws, and ignoring the plight of "voiceless if not silenced" children of India, after a public interest litigation (PIL) was initiated by activist and human rights defender, Sampurna Behura. The apex court also requested chief justices of all high courts to establish child-friendly courts and vulnerable courts in each district.

The Supreme Court Bench, comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta, spoke about the lackadaisical attitude of the government and authorities towards children – there is pendency of cases of abandoned, orphaned and surrendered children; the conditions of children in shelter and observation homes are abysmal; there is an increased number of vacancies in juvenile justice institutions; and there is an absolute lack of initiative by legal service bodies to act, despite the passing of an amendment to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 in 2015.

Supreme Court. Juvenile Justice. Representational image. APRepresentational image. AP

There were several chief justices' conferences held in 2006, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2016 about the need to ensure the adequate and effective implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act. As a part of the resolutions passed in these conferences, the Supreme Court noted that every high court has a constituted Juvenile Justice Committee that is headed by a judge to take stock and address issues that concern children. Besides this, the Chief Justice of India also set up a Committee to address issues of implementation of child welfare laws.

Acknowledging that the Bench might be criticised for excessive judicial activism, it stated that the government has done very little for implementation of the Act in its true spirit: "Over the last decade or so, state governments and Union Territories have not fully complied with the provisions of a law solemnly enacted by Parliament for the benefit of children. In many instances, only cosmetic changes have been introduced at the ground level with the result that voiceless children continue to be subjects of official apathy."