Second lives of Mumbai’s abandoned babies: Stories of grit and hope

MUMBAI: From being found abandoned in an autorickshaw at Kanjurmarg in November 2017 to undergoing a battery of surgeries at Kansas, USA, to help her walk and talk again, the tale of seven-year-old Radhika is one of grit, survival and hope.
Hemant Sharma alias Aman (@jugadu_banda), who found the abandoned infant, narrated the details of how he rescued her. “I was out for an evening stroll with my cousin when we passed a dumper in Kanjurmarg,” he said. “I thought I heard the cries of a kitten and went towards the dumper, but on checking I realised that the sound was coming from a nearby auto rickshaw. Peeking inside, I found a baby shivering and covered with filth, flies swarming around her.”
Aman picked up the baby while his cousin rushed to the police station. “People told me she wouldn’t survive but I did not lose hope,” he said. The police rushed the baby to Sion Hospital, where Aman’s friend’s father was a doctor. “She had fluid in her brain,” said Aman. “She was operated on and my prayers were answered.” The police subsequently scanned the CCTVs in the area, and discovered that the infant had been abandoned by a couple on a bike. However, since it was dark, they could not trace the motorcycle.
Radhika was then sent to Vatsalya Trust in Kanjurmarg where she stayed for two years before the parents of four boys from USA adopted her. “I tried to get an update from the trust but I had already shifted to Canada,” said Aman, who works as a supply chain manager and commodity trader there. “I was planning to come to Mumbai to meet Radhika, when in 2022 a couple from USA contacted me to tell me that Radhika was with them and thanked me. It meant the world to me to know that she was in a safe place. She is a warrior. She fought and survived unlike many kids left to die by their parents.”
Aneesha alias Poonam was rescued in similar circumstances on September 10, 2022, from a dustbin in Borivali West. A passerby, who heard the two-day-old infant crying, alerted the MHB Colony police. Sub-inspector Vanita Kathbane from the Nirbhaya squad of the MHB police found Poonam in the dustbin wrapped in a cloth.
“We took her to Shatabdi Hospital but luckily she had no injuries,” said Kathbane. “We filed a chargesheet and informed the court that we had scanned the CCTV camera footage of the area but were unable to locate her parents.” Poonam was adopted by the police, who committed to sponsoring her education, and was given to St Catherine’s Home in Andheri. Now two years old, she has been put up for formal adoption.
Days after Poonam was rescued, an abandoned newborn baby girl in a critical condition was rescued by the Samta Nagar police. Police officers said that on receiving information, they reached the deserted building where she was abandoned and took custody of her. “Her umbilical cord seemed to be hastily cut,” said Narendra Shinde, former senior police inspector at the police station. “We took her to Shatabdi Hospital, where doctors told us that she was in a critical condition and would not survive.” A woman police officer was then assigned to keep a 24-hour watch on the progress of her health.
For the next seven days, the baby—named Angel by the police—battled for life. Miraculously she survived, and was transferred to an Andheri-based orphanage while the police began an investigation. They found that Angel’s mother was just 18 years old, allegedly sexually assaulted by her own relative who lured her from Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai for a job in 2020 and got her pregnant. He and his mother first tried to induce an abortion by giving her pills, but the attempt failed. When her labour pains began, they took her to the abandoned building where she gave birth to the child on the staircase. Her male relative fled before the delivery and his mother also left after the child was born.
Not all abandoned children are as lucky as Radhika, Poonam and Angel. The number of newborns abandoned in Maharashtra accounted for 18.3 per cent of the national total of 6,459 cases between 2015 to 2021. One thousand, one hundred and eight-four newborn children were abandoned in Maharashtra, ahead of Madhya Pradesh with 1,168 cases and Rajasthan with 884 cases. In Mumbai, according to statistics, every month at least two newborns are abandoned or killed before birth.
There are several reasons why newborns are abandoned so callously. “Among these are the fear of social stigma among unmarried mothers, rejection of girl children, deformity in the infant, financial issues, pressure from family and postpartum depression,” said a police officer. The police try to trace the mother and if found, investigate the reason for the abandonment. They are also in touch with several NGOs that provide care to abandoned children. “This helps us provide the baby with a healthy environment, increasing their chances of survival,” said Sudhir Kudalkar, former senior police inspector of MHB Colony Police Station.
Not all abandoned kids find a home though. Raman Srinivasa, trustee of the Vatsalya Trust in Kanjurmarg, said, “The police find homes for around 30 to 40 babies, which is one percent of the national figure of babies up for official adoption.”
The adoption process
The baby found by the public is handed over to the police, who admit the kid to hospital for a medical examination and further treatment if necessary. Through the hospital or police, the Child Welfare Commission (CWC) is contacted and a representative is assigned to take care of the CWC process. After this, an NGO or orphanage is contacted and after discharge from hospital, the child is handed over to the NGO after the CWC approves.
Till 2015, NGOs were permitted to give up a baby for adoption by scrutinising whether the prospective adoptive parents were genuine. In 2015, the government started a website called Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) where children’s profiles are registered. Prospective parents have to register themselves and after a waiting period of at least three years get a notification that they are next in line for adopting a baby. They are then given the address of the NGO where the baby is. After a meeting, CARA gives the parents a password to the child’s health and other records.
The NGO then submits a report to the CWC about the parents, who are then called for a hearing after which they are declared foster parents. After a month, the NGO files an appeal with the court for legal adoption, which takes at least a month to get a date. After 10 days of the hearing, the parents are declared legal guardians of the child. The NGO then contacts the local government agency to issue a birth certificate for the child mentioning the adoptive parents as the birth parents.