On April 25, an audio clip of a conversation on procuring babies for illegal adoption by childless couples went viral on social media.
An inquiry by Namakkal police into the conversation, which sounded like one between a prospective buyer and a broker, uncovered a network involved in the sale of 30 newborns – 24 of them female -- from various parts of the State, including villages in the Kolli Hills of Namakkal District.
Police said the racket involved facilitation of illegal adoption of babies, mostly born into poor families, for huge sums of money. The price varied with the gender, health and complexion of the child.
The Namakkal police arrested S. Amuthavalli, a retired nursing assistant from Rasipuram, her husband S. Ravichandran, who works in a public sector bank, and an ambulance driver, Murugeshan, from Kolli Hills. They also arrested a few agents from Erode, who lured childless couples into illegal procurement of children. They were the link between the “buyers” and Amuthavalli, who then worked the deal with parents who wanted to give their children away.
Considering the expanse and gravity of the case, it was transferred to the Crime Branch-CID.
In Powerkadu, a remote village in Kolli Hills, teenage pregnancies, even among girls as young as 16, is common, as they are married off at a very young age.
The primary health centre here has large posters on birth control. Yet, sources say, multiple children in a family are common.
According to sources, newborns were also “adopted” from various other villages, including Sengarai, Mekanikadu, Naduvalavu, Puthuvalavu and Panangaraipatti. Poor families with more than two children were lured into selling infants, especially girls. Childless couples were convinced to opt for illegal adoption as the legal route involved stringent and time-consuming procedures.
In the leaked conversation, Amuthavalli is heard saying: “If the adoption is done through court, the process will get delayed.” She goes on to say: “For healthy female newborns, the rate will range between ₹2.7 lakh and ₹3 lakh. For males, if the newborn is healthy and of fair complexion, the price will range between ₹4 lakh and ₹4.5 lakh. And, for babies with wheatish complexion, the price will be between ₹3.5 lakh and ₹3.7 lakh.”
Even the birth certificates of the newborns was arranged for ₹70,000, incorporating the names of the “adopting” parents.
Awareness low
K. Kuppusamy, president of the Tamil Nadu Pazhangudiyinar Malaival Makkal Nala Amaipu, a tribal welfare organisation, said that the lack of awareness about the legalities involved, poverty and the lack of family planning made the people living in the hills easy targets. “These families were told that they would not be able to feed and care for a third or fourth child. They could have been promised that the children would live well with well-to-do couples who were childless,” he added.
Mr. Kuppusamy alleged that while those who ran the racket got hefty sums from childless couples, the biological parents did not get a penny, or were paid a pittance.
While Amuthavalli arranged for the newborns, the prospective buyers were identified by agents, mostly at infertility treatment centres that childless couples flocked to across the State. The agents identified couples who had tried infertility treatment and failed, and persuaded them to go in for illegal adoption.
Police said that the couples did not mind paying the money that the network demanded, given the fact that they had been willing to spend large sums on infertility treatment, sometimes close to ₹10 lakh.
A senior police officer said the racket might have been thriving for the five to six years, but had not come to light as no one complained or flagged it. The CB-CID, which took up the investigation of the Namakkal case, has found that the racket involved the sale of 24 female and six male newborns. Besides the eight persons arrested by Namakkal police, the CB-CID has also arrested a nursing assistant, Shanthi.
Survey of newborns
Meanwhile, the Health Department has embarked on an extensive verification of birth certificates of children in Kolli Hills and nearby areas. According to Deputy Director of Health Services G. Ramesh Kumar, 15 medical teams, each with five members including a health inspector, surveyed households and primary health centres to check whether children whose births had been registered were still in the villages.
“We verified records of the past 10 years and the survey has been completed in the entire Kolli Hills, Sendamangalam and Rasipuram areas. We are conducting the survey in other parts of Namakkal as well,” said Dr. Kumar.
The Village Health Nurses who go on immunisation drives will mark “adoption” cases if a child is found missing from households. These cases will be reported to the Child Protection Office.
Based on the survey, the department has submitted a report to the Government, District Collector, the CB-CID and Namakkal police.
The Namakkal case has led to a verification exercise in Pudukottai, Perambalur and Ariyalur districts following indications that the racket had extended to these areas too. Field workers of the Health Department in Pudukottai have been asked to match data relating to the number of deliveries with the number of birth certificates issued.
Deputy Director of Health Services, Pudukottai, B. Bharanidharan, however, said that so far there had been no complaint pertaining to child sale or illegal adoption in the district. Nevertheless, Village Health Nurses who maintain vigil on the newborns and registers on immunisation schedule have been asked to keep tabs on the babies.
Deputy Director of Health Services, Perambalur, Sampath Kumar said that he too had not received any complaints regarding child sale or illegal adoption in the last three-and-half years.
The procedure to be followed for legal adoption is being explained to the public at mass contact programmes, said G. Arulselvi, District Child Protection Officer, Perambalur.
(With inputs from R. Rajaram and C. Jaisankar in Tiruchi)
