Infant tests HIV positive, dies a few months after adoption; woman says she paid Rs 1 lakh to city orphanage for child
Infant tests HIV positive, dies a few months after adoption; woman says she paid Rs 1 lakh to city orphanage for child
Anita Arun Yadav adopted a newborn boy in March last year and named him Ved. In November Ved died, a few days after Yadav learnt he was HIV positive.
Mumbai-based Yadav said before she got the child, she had to give Rs 1 lakh to the adoption centre, Gurukul Godavari Balakashram at Nagpur Chawl in Yerawada. The organisation has its main branch in Mumbai.
The orphanage president, Mathew Rayappa Yanmal (39), was arrested yesterday and booked for cheating.
Yanmal was given three days' police custody. The police said more arrests were likely.
No licence
Also, Gurukul Godavari Balakashram lacked the licence necessary under the Juvenile Justice Act to run an adoption centre, said the police.
"We will also charge Yanmal under the Juvenile Justice Act after scanning the papers of the orphanage," said Senior PI Deepak Sawant. "We are also checking whether the organisation has cheated any other people in the past."
Yadav said she had first approached the orphanage in 2008 and handed over Rs 30,000 as a token amount for a baby. She said she then kept reminding the orphanage to send her a two-week-old baby to her residence in Goregaon, Mumbai.
Fake birth cert
She got the child in 2009. She said no papers were shown to her at the time, but later a fake birth certificate showing her as the child's mother was sent to her. Yadav said when she raised questions over the birth certificate, the people in charge gave her no answers.
"Soon after Diwali in October, blood started oozing from the baby's nostrils and mouth," she said. "The doctors suspected something was seriously wrong and advised an HIV test. The baby tested positive and was admitted to Lilavati hospital."
Ved was kept on ventilator for 20 days before he died on November 28.
"The orphanage had told me they had done all necessary medical tests and the baby was healthy," said Yadav. "When I approached the orphanage again and told Brother Yanmal that they had cheated me, he claimed that the baby was born to a healthy mother and it was unlikely that the boy was HIV positive."
Yadav alleged that she was even told another baby would be arranged for her and requested her to keep mum on the issue.
Police complaint
Yadav followed up on the matter for five months, but nothing happened. Finally, when Brother Yanmal stopped answering her calls, she decided to lodge a complaint ufffd six months after Ved died ufffd with the Yerawada police station.
The Gurukul Godavari Balakashram currently has 50 destitute children.
Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member Anita Vipat said, "This is a serious matter and it clearly shows the ashram was run illegally. Pune CWC will approach the orphanage at the earliest and take custody of these children."
Investigating officer ASI S D Udhane said Yanmal had been running the orphanage a year-and-half.
(With inputs from Vivek Sabnis)
ADVERTISEMENT
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
