ICHALKARANJI: DID HOMEOPATH DR ARUN PATIL RUN A BABY TRAFFICKING RACKET UNDER THE GUISE OF ADOPTION?

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.

Legal grey areas

The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) of the Ministry of Women and Child Development selects new families for orphaned, abandoned and surrendered kids through a lengthy but transparent online process. Adoption is covered by two other laws — the Guardian and Wards Act of 1890 and the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act of 1956 — and their provisions work uncomfortably close to the CARA process. This, experts and activists told Mirror, has created legal grey areas, enabling unappointed adoption agents like Dr Patil to allegedly exploit an emotional need of families without children. Activists have demanded a single monitoring system for all adoptions to prevent child trafficking and the so-called baby selling rackets.

32-year practice

Dr Patil has been practising as a homeopath in Ichalkaranji for over 30 years and enjoys public goodwill for offering free treatment to many poor women. He opened a hospital (general, surgical and maternity) in the town’s Jawahar Nagar locality in 1986, later roping in gynaecologist Dr SS Kodolikar. The facility, which functions inside a bungalow, is registered in the name of Dr Patil’s son, Rushikesh (MBBS).

The hospital raid

Two months ago, the Ministry of Women and Child Development headed by Maneka Gandhi received an anonymous complaint about a baby selling racket at the hospital. After conducting a preliminary inquiry, CARA chairperson Ramchandra Reddy and adviser Shivanand Dambal landed in Kolhapur on February 5. The next day, they, along with the district protection unit of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), raided the hospital. The plan for the raid was kept secret from the local police and district officers.

“A high number of deliveries were taking place at the hospital. The hospital records suggest nearly all of them were natural deliveries. It’s surprising there were no complications,” Dambal said. “Dr Patil could not produce any documents about biological waste, which was also odd.”

The 16-year-old girl who blew the lid

During the raid, the CARA team found a 16-year-old nurse working and living at the hospital. She revealed she gave birth in the hospital on December 3 last year and a couple from Chandrapur district adopted the baby five days later. The couple, Manoj and Prerana Chahande, created a fixed deposit of Rs 2 lakh in the girl’s name. Dr Patil was also listed as a nominee.

The 16-year-old became pregnant after a sexual assault and sought Dr Patil’s opinion on abortion, Priya Chorgae, chairperson of CWC Kolhapur district, told Mirror. She had crossed the legal limit for termination, so he advised against it. He, however, failed to share the girl’s details with the police, as required under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, and sent her to a radiologist for a sonography.

“I was informed the girl is 22 years old so there was no reason for me to suspect that she’s a minor. I conducted the sonography without any charge as requested by Dr Patil,” said radiologist Dr Sachin Jagwani.

Chorgae said Dr Patil provided free care to the girl at the hospital and promised to help her find a couple who would adopt the baby. “He called this a social service, but from a legal point of view, this is nothing but trafficking,” Chorgae said. He also assured the girl he would send her to a junior college from this academic year.

Serious charges

Dr Patil, his wife, Ujjwala, and the Chahandes were arrested and booked under sections 370 (trafficking of persons); 176 (omission to give notice or information to public servant); and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. They have also been charged under sections 75 (cruelty to child); 80 (adoption without following procedure); and 81 (sale and procurement of children for any purpose) of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. Vinayak Narale, deputy superintendent of police, Ichalkaranji, said a 28-year-old man who allegedly raped the girl had now been arrested in Sangli.

Good intentions, bad approach

The Chahandes could not produce any document to prove they adopted her baby legally. The child is currently being cared for by the Kolhapur CWC. The couple have little chance of regaining custody.

Advocate AG Badve, who is representing them, said the pair had registered with CARA’s adoption process, but were dismayed by the long waiting list. “The couple decided to adopt after losing their first child. Out of desperation, they approached Dr Patil. They were planning to formally register the adoption once the biological mother turned 18. They had no criminal intentions,” he said.

Cross connections

The Chahandes learned about Dr Patil’s expertise in arranging an adoption from the family of Amol and Aarti Sawai, who had met a widow at the Ichalkaranji hospital and accepted the lifelong responsibility of her baby on May 29 last year. Aarti’s sister knew Prerna and Sawais shared Dr Patil’s number.

“We registered with CARA, but there was a long waiting period. Later, I received a call from my friend in Ichalkaranji, Dr Ketki Sakharpe, who said a woman wanted to give up her child,” Amol, 39, said.

After a phone conversation, the couple went to Dr Patil’s hospital. “We met the biological mother, who was ready to complete legal formalities. We filed the papers with a sub-registrar under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act,” Amol said. “Our adoption was done within the legal framework; we have not paid anything to the mother. We have not broken any law and we will cooperate with investigators.”

Dr Sakharpe refused to comment on the case, saying she would only speak to the police, if required. The Sawais were only briefly detained and this week, they regained, as only guardians, the child’s custody. Though the validity of the adoption registration deed is yet to be ascertained, the Kolhapur CWC restored the custody in the “baby’s best interest”.

Nerul couple Amol and Aarti Sawai were breifly detained and their adopted child was placed in the custody of CWC. They have now regained the custody

‘I can’t provide for another child’ The baby’s biological mother told Mirror she works in a textile unit, barely earning Rs 7,000 a month. “I already have a 17-year-old son and I cannot provide for another child,” she said. “The baby’s father died six months ago when I was pregnant. I have not taken any money from the Nerul couple.”

Lack of awareness about the adoption process prompts many women who cannot take care of their newborns to seek help from people like Dr Patil. “If a mother or a family want to give up a child, they should approach the CWC,” said Priya Chorgae of CWC Kolhapur.

Experts say it’s a complex problem and uprooting an illegally adopted child from his/her new family was not a solution. In many cases, by the time officials learn about the unlawful arrangement between biological and adoptive parents, the child has become quite attached to his new family.

“My husband and I had adopted a baby from a shelter in Beed district. Then one day, officials took him away. It was heartbreaking to see him cry. I wish no parent goes through that,” a 35-yearold woman, who doesn’t have a child of her own, said.

‘Tip of the iceberg’

Advocate Abhay Nevagi, who has handled such cases, said the central government should bring all adoptions under CARA. “Some provisions of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act are hampering CARA’s efforts to monitor adoptions. They should be amended,” he said.

Activist Varsha Deshpande, who is a member of a government committee to prevent human trafficking, said people like Dr Patil were taking advantage of couples desperate to be parents. “This is just the tip of the iceberg of baby selling rackets. We know the status of investigations in our country. Cops will not able to detect any cash transactions. We must change our laws and bring all adoptions under a single monitoring authority,” she said.

The deputy superintendent of police has taken over the Ichalkaranji probe. While seeking the suspects’ remand, cops said though only two cases of adoptions facilitated by Dr Patil were known, there could be more: “He has overseen over 500 deliveries in a year. He has not kept records of all. There are some missing links... and we suspect there could be more cases.”

Advocate Pawankumar Upadhye, who is representing Dr Patil and his wife, said things were being blown out of proportion. “There are only two cases, and in one of them, the adoption is legal and valid. Dr Patil and wife didn’t have any bad intentions,” he said.

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