03 June 2010
Pune, India
The Yerawada police on Tuesday arrested the president of a non–registered children’s home for giving up for adoption a six–month–old boy to a woman from Mumbai for Rs 1 lakh while allegedly concealing the fact that the he had HIV. The child died six months later.
A magistrate court sent Matthew Yanmal, president of Gurukul Godavari Balak Ashram at Maharashtra Housing Society, Yerawada, to police custody till June 4. The other office–bearers of the ashram are absconding. Investigations have revealed that the ashram neither conducted a medical examination on the boy, as promised to the woman, nor did it seek permission from the court while giving the child in adoption. The woman has alleged that Yanmal knew the child was HIV–positive.
Senior police inspector Deepak Sawant said the 45–year–old Goregaon–based woman, who was childless for years, paid Yanmal Rs 1 lakh on March 10 last year for adopting the boy. She got to know of the boy’s HIV status barely a few days after she took him home. The boy had fallen ill and a check–up revealed that he had HIV.
The woman took up the issue with the ashram authorities but they asked her to wait for some time before they could give her another child in adoption. The boy died on December 28 last year.
Yanmal was running the children’s home for many years without permission. The woman has registered a complaint against Yanmal and others under sections 406 and 420 of the IPC. When contacted, Dr Arun Jhamkar, dean of BJ Medical College, said there were no separate rules for adopting an HIV–positive child. However, the orphanage should make the adoptive parent aware of the child’s condition.
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