This baby girl of eight days was named “miracle baby” as she was born in a train toilet and fell on the tracks but didn’t receive any harm. However, now this baby has been given up by her mother as she writes in a note that she doesn’t have the financial capability to raise her. This has posed a problem for the officials of Shishu Sadan, Rampur, orphanage where the baby is being kept. This baby girl can’t be called an orphan and because of this they can’t give her for adoption. The mother of the girl has gone missing.
The baby was born on December 28, 2015 in a train which was passing through Bareilly. She fell in the tracks and was recovered after her mother cried for help. The girl was taken to Bareilly district hospital, and here only the mother told the doctors and officers of Child Welfare Committee, that she wouldn’t be able to bring her up.
As per the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, if the mother is alive, the child can’t be called orphan. According to the law, it is mandatory for the orphanage to update data of children on the website of Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), which is an autonomous body and comes under the Union ministry of women and child development.
Sunil Sharma, member of the Child Welfare Committee, stated, “Documents from the NGO in Bareilly that were received by the orphanage said the mother could not raise the child. What that means is that the child has been surrendered. The mother has since disappeared, but we know this child is not an orphan.”
He further gave the details when he told that now the baby can be put for adoption only if the mother signs the “surrender deed” with the committee, the legal adoption process can begin only after the deed is signed.
TOI was told by the Superintendent HP Srivastav of the Government Children’s Home, “The infant was brought here by members of the Child Welfare Committee of Bareilly and officers of the GRP (Government Railway Police). The paediatrician has checked her and found her healthy. She will soon be vaccinated.”
He further demanded mother to be produced and if she is not found, the baby will be given for adoption only if her mother is pronounced a “disappeared” person.
The baby girl has been named Vandana by the staff of orphanage which takes care of 28 children.
