BENGALURU: A distraught mother has been fighting a lone battle for four months, trying to convince authorities to let her meet her six-year-old son who went missing in November, and has been housed in a government children’s home. “I want to meet my son. Why are they not letting me see him?,” said Jayasheela, a domestic help.  

The boy went missing from Katriguppe on November 1, 2018. On being found, after a police complaint was filed, he was rehabilitated in Shishu Mandir, after being produced before the Child Welfare Committee.  “On November 5, when I saw him in Shishu Mandir, he started crying, asking me to take him home. Since then I’ve been visiting the place, but I am not allowed to see him,” she said.

CWC-3 chairperson Nagarathna R said, “There is no such boy in Shishu Mandir, nor are we dealing with any such case.”

Superintendent S Raju, however, said the child has been with them since December 1 and that Jayasheela came to see him. The CWC said she didn’t come when she was asked to.Jayasheela said despite being shown identity papers, officials are fire-walling her efforts, asking how she can look after three kids when she is poor.

The child suffers from epilepsy. When Jayasheela carried his medicines, officials said doctors would attend to him. “I don’t know what medicines he is getting. It’s my right to know about my child,” she pleaded.

After the boy, a Class 1 student in a government school, went missing, the mother filed a police complaint. He was traced in VV Puram police station limits a few days later. The police left him with BOSCO, the city-based non-government organisation working with the young at risk in Bengaluru. BOSCO referred the case to CWC, which ordered the child to be put in Shishu Mandir.

Jayasheela said, “My son went missing on November 1. Since it was holiday, he had come with me to my workplace near my home, so I asked him to go home and play with his brothers. He got lost on the way. After looking for him the whole day, I approached the police.”

On November 2, she went to Channammanakere Acchukattu police station to file a missing person’s complaint. “The police took details from me and after two days they told me that my son was found by VV Puram police, and had been left in Bosco. I went to Bosco and they said I have to get him from Shishu Mandir by taking permission from CWC,” she added.

The officials at the boys’ home asked her to prove that he is her son, she said. So she took his birth certificate, Aadhaar card and other documents, and produced them before the CWC. “They asked me to bring my two elder sons, and I took them too. Then the committee told me that I am not financially well off to take care of three children and refused to return my son. Each time I go before them, I have to spend at least ‘500 and lose money through loss of pay for not being able to attend to work,” Jayasheela rued.

Former CWC chairperson Vasudev Sharma said, “I will not talk about the case. But, according to Juvenile Justice Act, the mother has the rights to see the child. Medical history has to be shared with the home and the medicine has to be continued. Once the parent is traced, after verifying the required documents, the child has to be reunited with the mother after counselling. Within three months, a Home Study has to be done, and if they want some financial help based on the recommendations of the study, they have to do it.”
Another former CWC chairperson said even if the child is found begging and is aged below six years, if the biological parents want the child, the officials should hand over the child after preliminary verification. It can be done within a week or two.