Court reunites baby gone missing from hospital with parents

Madurai: The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Tuesday handed over a nine-month-old girl, who went missing from Ramani Hospital in Ramanathapuram in September last, to her parents after a DNA test confirmed parentage.
The division bench of justices K K Sasidharan and S Vimala took this decision. The bench closed the habeas corpus petition filed by the child's father, M Sakthivel of Ramanathapuram.
Sakthivel's wife Kavitha gave birth to a girl on September 16, 2015.The baby went missing the next day.
When Sakthivel questioned the hospital authorities, they advised him to approach a woman named Thilaga. When he approached Thilaga, she allegedly told him she was ready to give him 7 lakh for the child. When he refused to accept it, Thilaga's husband allegedly threatened him.
Following this, Sakthivel lodged a complaint with the Kenikkarai police. As there was no action on the part of police, he filed the habeas corpus petition in the Madras high court seeking a direction to the police to rescue his daughter.
The court took the issue seriously and directed police to expedite the investigation. When the case came up for hearing in March this year, the police team produced a girl in the court. However, Sakthivel disputed the child's identification.
Following this, the court directed police to subject the child and the petitioner and his wife to a DNA test and ordered the child to be kept in a government-run adoption centre.
The police filed the test report in the division bench on Tuesday.