Kin seek custody of Mexican girl
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The controversy surrounding the custody of the Mexican child has deepened with relatives of both her parents reportedly demanding that the five-year-old be handed over to them.
But the embassy, it is learnt, is exploring the possibility of taking the child under its care so that the issue can be sorted out in Mexico under its law.
The little girl was left in the lurch after her father Martin Manrique, a research scholar at Kalasalingam University, was arrested for killing her mother Cecile Denise Acosta.
After keeping the child with her father at Tirunagar police station for two nights until he was sent on judicial remand on Wednesday, Madurai rural police handed her over to Child Welfare Committee’s (CWC) reception home at Muthupatti.
Vladimir Vazquez, second secretary, head of the political department, Mexican embassy in New Delhi, visited the home on Thursday.
Sources said he spent time with the child at the home run by Sakthi Vidiyal and expressed satisfaction over the environment which she is in.
The child, according to an official at the home, was anxious and dull yesterday. “She is, however, coping today, eating, playing and sleeping well, especially after talking to her grandmother and aunt in Mexico over phone,” he said.
The girl, in fact, was inconsolable when Martin bid adieu to her at the station before being taken to court, Tirunagar police said, adding that she is aware that her father has been sent to jail but does not know about her mother’s death.
CWC chairperson (in-charge) S.R.Velmurugan said, “The two-day incidents will last on the tender mind. She should have been handed over at the home immediately after her father’s arrest.”
Home authorities said her grandmother (Martin’s mother) and her uncle (mother’s brother) have contacted them over phone and are expected to land here in a couple of days seeking custody of the child.
According to police, the child, born to Martin and Cecile when they were living together in Mexico, was in the custody of the former by a decree after they broke up.
Meanwhile, Mr Vazquez also discussed the legal issues involved and is working on bringing the legal documents from Mexico to facilitate the process.
CWC is expected to sit on Friday to decide on the next course of action. Its ruling on custody of the child until it is in India will be final.
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