Child Welfare Committee visits Yerawada orphanage that 'sold' HIV+ baby to Mumbai couple, decides to shift children elsewhere
Child Welfare Committee visits Yerawada orphanage that 'sold' HIV+ baby to Mumbai couple, decides to shift children elsewhere
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A DAY after the president of a city orphanage was arrested after a Mumbai couple alleged he hid the HIV positive status of the baby boy they adopted, members of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) paid the orphanage in Yerawada a visit.
The team led by Anita Vipat was shocked to see 49 children without an adult to look after them when it reached Gurukul Godavari Balakashram yesterday morning. The CWC decided to shift the children elsewhere.
A Mumbai-based woman Anita Yadav had lodged a complaint against orphanage president Matthew Rayappa Yanmal (39) of taking Rs 1 lakh and giving her an HIV positive baby boy for adoption.
Adopted in March, the boy named Ved had died in November.
Yadav alleged that Yanmal hid the HIV status of the child.
Police officials also discovered that Yanmal did not even have a licence to run an orphanage, necessary under the Junvenile Justice Act.
"On reaching the ashram, we found that there were 49 children but no one to look after them," said Vipat. "The children said they had a caretaker named Rajendra, who had stepped out to get something."
Of the 49 children, 31 were girls. Three of the children were mentally handicapped.
"Most of them come from single-parent families and about three or four are orphans. Since there is no one to take care of them, the CWC has taken them under its custody," said Vipat. "The girls will be sent to a home in Nana Peth, while the boys will be shifted to the Shivaji Nagar home."
Police Inspector Deepak Sawant of the Yerawada police station said they were investigating if more children had been given for adoption in the past by the arrested Yanmal.
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