Ending 160 days of stay away from her family, three-year-old Tanvitha, victim of a custody battle between two mothers, was restored to her foster mother on Wednesday on the orders of the Khammam Fifth Metropolitan Court.
The Court, in its interim order, directed the officials to handover the little girl to her foster family. The case highlights the menace of illegal sale and adoption of girl children in tribal hamlets of Telangana state.
Tanvitha, who never considered her biological mother Malothu Uma as her true mother, was seen crying for her foster mother Vemula Swaroopa at the Bala Sadan, after the court's direction. When the moment of reunion came, both mother and child hugged each other so hard that the staff who had to complete the formalities could not separate them. When reporters from TV channels asked her in whose hands she was, the little Tanvitha was heard saying "Ma Amma" (My Mom)
It all started on October 24, 2017, when Malothu Uma, a resident of Manikyavaram in Bhadradri Kothagudem district, filed a complaint at the Yellandu police station that her daughter was under the custody of another woman and wanted the police to restore her child to her. In her complaint she alleged that her daughter was sold by the hospital staff where she delivered her, without her knowledge. She said her husband had told her that the infant was stillborn.
Hospital sells newborn
When Yellandu police summoned foster mother Swaroopa, her husband Rajendra insisted that the girl belonged to them, by adopted. The Vemula couple had adopted the girl child in 2015, days after she was born. The couple allegedly paid Rs 1 lakh to the hospital through a broker. Uma, on interrogation, revealed that her husband Malothu Bao Singh sold the child after sedating her. The local medical practitioner confirmed that Uma knew about the illegal adoption and said that she even signed the adoption documents.
Swaroopa's argument was that Uma wanted the infant only to sell her to another couple in Mumbai. Swaroopa told the Court that she had taken good care of the fragile baby and nurtured her. The Court ordered the reunion with the foster mother despite strong DNA evidence linking Tanvitha with her biological mother Uma.
