For a breed that is accused of all sorts of misdeeds, a first comes in the form of an allegation of baby stealing.
Rajesh Tripathi, minister of state for homeopathy in the Mayawati government, has been accused of doing just that by Pramila Vishwakarma, a housewife.

The child in question is an almost four-year-old boy, Manas, who the minister, a first timer from Gorakhpur’s Chillupur constituency, has long maintained is a child he had adopted after he was found abandoned.

Vishwakarma, a native of Rudrapur in Gorakhpur’s neighbouring Deoria district, claims she gave birth to the boy at Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das Medical College on January 13, 2004. Two days later, two women from her village called upon her and ran away with the child, Vishwakarma describes as “fair and beautiful”.

Police complaint

Her husband Ashok and father Brijnath lodged a complaint at the Guleheria police station but got no help. Later, they came to know that the child had been seen at the house of Tripathi, then a journalist with a local Hindi daily.
When Brijnath visited Tripathi’s house to confirm, he was convinced the child was his lost grandson. But reasoning with Tripathi did not help and Brijnath says he was thrown out of his house.

The couple then approached the district court, which ordered the police to conduct an inquiry. But after some initial action during which the police questioned Tripathi, there was no movement in the case.

Upset that the allegations have resurfaced, Tripathi told the media in his hometown Gorakhpur that he had adopted the child after he was handed over to him by another woman. “I adopted the child in the presence of many people and have always been open about the fact that he is not my blood. Why have these allegations surfaced now? It is a political conspiracy against me, but I won’t be blackmailed.”

Adoption

Vishwakarma says her battle is not new and that she has been waging it since Tripathi was a nobody. She is, however, not clear on whether Tripathi has been behind the stealing of her child or that he is simply guilty of “adopting” her child.

A Gorakhpur district and sessions judge has meanwhile ruled that a DNA test be conducted to confirm if Manas is Vishwakarma’s son.