Babies with biological parents, 5 months after their birth

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 26

The union was touching, tinged with joy and pain. They took their babies into a warm embrace, their faces stained with tears of relief. For it had been a tortuous five-month wait since their infants, a boy and a girl, born at the state-run Kamla Nehru Hospital on the night of May 26, were swapped.

As Sheetal, carrying baby girl Amanat, arrived at the residence of Anjna and Jitender Thakur (child's biological parents), both mothers looked downcast. They turned to their kin for solace. "The children are lucky to have two mothers and two homes," consoled an elderly woman. The Thakur family had organised a dham (community lunch) to celebrate the child's homecoming.

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““Humare ghar to Laxmi aayi hai. I have two grandsons and always wanted a granddaughter. This Diwali, we have been blessed with Goddess Laxmi," said an excited Kala, Anjna's mother-in-law. Turning her gaze at little Nitansh, she turned pensive. "We do not know how we will overcome the pain of parting with him," she remarked. A heart-broken Anjna moaned: “How will I live without my son Nitansh."

Anjna, who had at first refused to accept she had given birth to a baby girl until she was shown the DNA report, looked dazed at the turn of events.

Sheetal looked calm, unflustered. She said her joy would have been more had the boy been handed over to her at the time of his birth. Achar Singh, her father, said the hospital authorities must pay compensation for mental agony and harassment. “We suffered owing to their negligence," he maintained.

The police. meanwhile, have arrested staff nurse Pushpa Devi and midwife Rupa Devi for child-swapping. They have been booked for cheating and kidnapping.