Hyderabad Emerging As A Major Hub For 'Illegal Adoption'

INNLIVE running a series of stories on adoption process and making aware of the illegal procedures which is making the life hell in terms of 'real' adoptions and adopted child. It will become our duty to curb this meance and show our furore.

The city has emerged as a major hub for illegal adoptions, with more than 1,000 children being sold to buyers from across the country every year, activists and police said. Most of these children, aged up to five years, are sourced from poor households, private nursing homes and Shishu Gruhas, police sources said.

The rates of babies are fixed according to his her health and prospective parents pay anywhere between Rs 3,000 and Rs 50,000, said sources in the Telangana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (TSCPCR).

In the Nalgonda case on April 21, an 18-monthold baby girl was allegedly sold for Rs 10,000. Last December, a couple was arrested in the Chilkalguda area for selling a baby girl to a childless couple for Rs 15,000. In another case, three women and a man were arrested in Bansilalpet for selling a 15-day-old baby girl for Rs 20,000.

“In several such cases, the middlemen strike a deal with infertility centres and private nursing homes to keep an eye on prospective customers,“ said Achyutha Rao, member of TSCPCR. In some cases, the children are sold directly from the nursing homes. “In many cases, the baby is separated from the biological mother at a very young age. To make the baby look healthier, the kingpins of the racket give them health supplements,“ said another senior TSCPCR member.

These illegal transactions, surprisingly, are found more in the urban educated pockets. “Under the legal process, it takes at least two to five years to adopt a baby. In many cases, parents are not ready to wait for so long and end up taking the easier route,“ said K Shyama Sundari, joint director (schemes), women development and child welfare department.

According to the police, there is no specific law in place that deals with illegal adoption. While IPC Section 372 elaborates on sale of minors, it majorly deals with prostitution.“There is no established law as far as illegal adoptions are concerned. 

However, in some cases, culprits are booked under the immoral trafficking Act,“ said Chandramohan, DSP in the Central Investigation Department. In the Juvenile Justice (Care and Prevention of Children) Bill, an amendment has been proposed to include illegal adoption as a new offence.