Nidhi to be handed over to her parents soon

Ernakulam CWC to restore custody of abandoned toddler Nidhi to parents from Jharkhand after positive reports from authorities.

The Ernakulam Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has taken an in-principle decision to restore the custody of Nidhi, a toddler who was abandoned on delivery at the Ernakulam General Hospital nearly four months ago, to her parents from Jharkhand based on a report from the Jharkhand CWC that the parents have the capacity to take care of the child notwithstanding their financial constraints.

The Ernakulam CWC had written to their counterparts in Jharkhand after the parents returned to the city after the Kochi city police managed to track them down with the help of a police contingent from Jharkhand who came to the city to take part in a national-level police badminton tournament hosted by the city in April.

The parents were booked by the Ernakulam Town North police under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 93 (exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years, by parents or person having care of it) and 3(5) (when a criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all) and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act Section 75 (cruelty to child) after they abandoned the child on her delivery. However, the police have also given a report to the CWC favouring the handing over of the toddler to her parents who agreed to take care of her.

“Since the Jharkhand CWC and the Kochi city police have given favourable reports, we will initiate the procedures to hand over the custody of the child. Our officials will escort the child and supervise the handover in the presence of the Jharkhand officials. The formalities would be completed in a week,” said Vincent Joseph, chairperson of Ernakulam CWC.

Though Nidhi’s parents were in the city last month, they had to return back to Jharkhand before meeting their child who remains at a child care institute in the city. Before coming to the city, they, however, managed to see their child virtually thanks to a videoconference arranged by the police.

Nidhi was shifted from Ernakulam General Hospital (GH) to the child care institute after being deemed healthy enough in April. Her mother gave birth to her prematurely, at just 28 weeks into the pregnancy, at GH, and then went missing shortly afterwards on January 29. Since then, she has transformed from an anaemic baby weighing only 950 grams to a relatively healthy one weighing more than 2.50 kilograms.

Nidhi’s mother was rushed to GH after developing labour pain when the train reached Ernakulam on January 29, while she and her husband were on their way to Jharkhand. They worked at a fish farm in Kottayam. Shortly after the delivery, the baby was transferred to a private hospital in the city for specialised care. However, the parents went missing soon after the mother was discharged. The baby was then shifted back to GH.