Kerala HC refuses to interfere in habeas corpus plea of woman on missing newborn row

The Kerala High Court has declined to interfere in the habeas corpus petition filed by a 22-year-old woman Anupama S Chandran seeking directions to the police to produce her one-year-old child before the court and hand the baby to her.

The petitioner, Anupama S Chandran, a former Students' Federation of India (SFI) leader and daughter of a Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPIM local leader, has alleged that her newborn was illegally detained by her parents and denied all basic human rights for more than one year.

The Division Bench of Justice K Vinod Chandran and C Jayachandran made it clear that " the matter was already pending before the Family Court at Thiruvananthapuram. Family Court has taken steps to bring the child back. There is no reason why we should intervene or extend our hand in the matter."

The petition stated, "The petitioner gave birth on 19th October 2020. But her parents, who were in the immediate custody of the child, forcefully took the newborn away without the consent or knowledge of the petitioner. Since she was infected with COVID-19, the respondents forcefully isolated the child from his biological mother on the pretext of protecting the newborn from infection."

"Then they surrendered her infant to 'Amma Thottil', an organization run by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) after conspiring to hide the child's identity and to make him an orphan. The CWC does not comply with the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act regarding the surrender of an abandoned child. The petitioner strongly believes the respondents with a common intention had aided, abetted and conspired to isolate a 4-day old child from its biological mother and denied it all the basic human rights of an infant," it further said.

Earlier, the petitioner accused CPIM leaders and the CWC of helping her father PS Jayachandran, a CPIM local committee member, for facilitating the adoption.

( With inputs from ANI )