Mumbai: Woman fighting to get child back helped by good Samaritan

The woman wants her child back, now that she has recovered from the mental illness

Mujhe mera beta wapas de do [give me my son back]," said the woman, whose child was placed in foster care with a well-known Bollywood director while she was being treated for mental illness. A good Samaritan heard her cries for help, and offered to help her financially to raise her son for the next three years.

Indira Jaising, former additional solicitor general, also told mid-day that the woman has an absolute non-negotiable right to custody of her child. The woman, in her thirties, was at the Child Welfare Committee's (CWC) office at Dongri to record her statement before the Borivli railway police on Monday. It was the Borivli railway police who had spotted the mother feeding her child on September 16, 2019, and got her admitted at Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation - a home for the mentally-ill. There, she was treated by Dr Bharat Vatwani, a psychiatrist and winner of Ramon Magsaysay.

The Borivli railway police recorded the statement now as she was not in a healthy mental condition to give a statement at the time. They had approached her a few days ago. The railway police even recorded the statement of the woman's father, who is in the city since November 22 this year, when the Family Service Centre (FSC) had called him to take the mother and her two-year-old son back to Bihar. "As the matter is being heard by the CWC, I requested the railway police to record the statements in the presence of the CWC officials and they agreed. Accordingly, the woman and her father, accompanied by our centre's social worker Farzana Ansari, gave their statements," said Dr Vatwani.

Indira Jaising, former additional solicitor general of India

'Want my child back'

mid-day was the first to report about the woman's plight in an article titled, 'Bollywood director fights biological mom over baby', on December 5. Speaking to mid-day on Monday, the mother said, "I want my child back and I will take him to Bihar where my parents would take care of us."
Ansari said that the woman, after the treatment for mental illness, told them that she had another child, a 12-year-old son who has been living with his aunt in Kanpur since he was four. Her husband, a casual labourer, works in Kanpur. The woman told them that she developed a psychiatric problem a few months after delivering the second child, who is now with his foster family.

Farzana added that they managed to contact the husband, who confirmed having a second child. "He even expressed his inability to take care of the woman and the child, as he is a casual labourer and had no one at home to take care of them once they returned. Therefore, he requested his in-laws to take care of them and that he would support them monetarily."

"My son-in-law had taken my daughter for a psychiatry treatment in Kanpur. But sometime in May or June last year, my daughter left the house with her newborn without telling anyone. She was supposed to come to Bihar, but she never did," the father told mid-day.

Good Samaritan offers aid

After reading the Dec 5 report about the woman in this paper, a woman approached Dr Vatwani, offering to financially support the family for the upbringing of the child for three years. She has issued 12 cheques of R6,000 each, promising to keep paying for the next two years, and has requested anonymity. All the post-dated cheques have been handed over to the grandfather. "We are happy to inform you that a female donor has agreed to donate R6,000 per month for the child for the next three years and has already given us post-dated cheques. We have also bought some warm clothes for the mother. We are now waiting for her to get her son back soon," Dr Vatwani told mid-day.

Another wants to help

Another reader has offered to take care of the legal expenses if the matter drags to court. "The support that I am receiving from society is very redeeming and heart-warming. We wish that the matter gets resolved at the earliest at the CWC level itself. It will be best for both the mother and her child," Dr Vatwani said.

He said his foundation with maintain the mother's psychological well-being if the matter goes to court and even give her the requisite medications for the next few years Dr Vatwani said he has even consulted Indira Jaising, the former additional solicitor general of India, and she told him, 'The mother deserves our full support; moral, legal and medical which you are providing'.

Talking to mid-day, Jaising said, "It is far more important to ensure that a woman, who is clinically mentally disabled but well-treated and supported, has the right to her biological child..." "In this case, the woman has an absolute non-negotiable right to custody of her child. The CWC should promptly pass an order to hand over the child to the mother. The child seems to have been unauthorisedly removed from the state run home."

Keep scrolling to read more news

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news