Mumbai woman moves court to get baby son back from adoption racket

MUMBAI: A 25-year-old woman, unwed when she gave up her son up for adoption last year, ran into a trafficking ring when she wanted the boy back after she got married to his father. She has been forced to approach courts for custody of her year-old baby, reports Rebecca Samervel.

Julia Fernandez, who 'facilitated' the adoption, was arrested earlier this month with an alleged aide Shabana Sheikh for trying to sell a newborn girl for Rs 4.5 lakh.

The Ulhasnagar woman moved the civil court last week to "recover" her son from a Malad couple who had taken him from Fernandez. In a plea submitted through Edith Dey and Mikhail Dey, the mother sought the court "to direct the DCP, ACP and senior police inspector of Bangur Nagar police station, to assist her in recovering her child from the respondents (adoptive parents) who are living within the jurisdiction of Bangur Nagar police station."

The plea will come up for hearing on August 24. The mother said that due to personal and financial difficulties, she was unable to raise the baby and was advised to approach one Julia Fernandez. The mother said that Julia informed her that she had an NGO and would help look after the baby until things settled down and she was in a state to take back the child. The mother said that Julia facilitated adoption of her baby son and informed her that the adoptive couple was wealthy and would look after him well.

In March this year, the civil court had rejected the plea by the Malad couple to be declared the adoptive parents of the boy. The biological mother had told the court then that her husband and she wanted their son back. However, the mother said she never received custody of her child despite the court's orders. "Despite the rejection of the adoption petition, the respondents did not return the baby and are till date illegally holding the custody of the child," the mother's plea said. The mother said that her husband and she had tried to contact the couple several times, through Julia, however, she kept giving excuses and later began threatening to complain to the police.

She added that she then approached Bangur Nagar police for help in recovering her child. The mother alleged that the police refused as there was no court order directing them to help in recovering the child.

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