Couples to swap babies on October 26

Legal Correspondent

Shimla, October 21

The couples whose babies had been swapped in Kamla Nehru Hospital have decided to amicably settle the case and will exchange the babies on October 26 after performing some religious ceremonies.

During the course of hearing, both couples present in the High Court informed it that they had arrived at an amicable settlement in view of the latest investigation report and had decided to exchange the babies on October 26.

After taking on record this statement, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Sandeep Sharma further directed the Superintendent of Police, Shimla, and both couples to remain present in the court on October 27.

Taking the incident of baby swapping in Kamla Nehru Hospital (KNH) seriously, the court further directed the SP to conclude the investigation and take the proceedings to its logical end as early as possible.

To prevent such incidents in future, the court directed the Advocate General and the hospital authorities to file suggestions and the steps to be taken in this regard.

The court passed this order on a petition filed by Sheetal, alleging that she had given birth to a baby boy at KNH on May 26, but after 20-25 minutes, a baby girl was handed over to her.

Thereafter, the court had directed the SP to conduct an inquiry and file the status report. It was informed to the court that the DNA report from the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL), Junga, had revealed that the babies were indeed swapped.

As per the DNA report, Anjna Thakur and her husband Jitender Thakur are the nearest biological parents of the baby girl. Similarly, Sheetal and her husband Anil are the nearest biological parents of the baby boy.