Order issued to hand over abandoned infant to Jharkhand CWC

The Ernakulam Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has issued an order to the District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) to restore the custody of Nidhi, an infant who was abandoned on delivery at the Ernakulam General Hospital nearly five months ago, to her parents in Jharkhand.

Last month, the Jharkhand CWC had given a report to their Ernakulam counterparts saying that the parents had 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 tracked 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 in April. The Ernakulam Town North police have also given a report favourable to the parents who were booked for abandoning the child on delivery.

“Though the child’s parents are in the city, we will hand her over only to the Jharkhand CWC. The DCPO and the special juvenile police have been asked to escort the girl back to Jharkhand. Her parents contacted us only the other day, and we have assured them that their child will be safely restored with them,” said Vincent Joseph, Chairperson of the Ernakulam CWC.

Nidhi was shifted from the Ernakulam General Hospital to the child care institute after being deemed healthy enough in April. Her mother gave birth to her prematurely, at just 28 weeks into pregnancy, at the General Hospital, and then went missing shortly afterwards on January 29. Since then, Nidhi 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 the General Hospital 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 the General Hospital.

Published - June 10, 2025 08:00 pm IST