Bureaucrats are often accused of tying themselves up in red tape. But, in this case, the state child welfare committee and the Royapuram police deserve kudos for allowing Kalaiarasi, the young mother who had lost her child at the RSRM hospital in Royapuram on October 26, to breastfeed the baby found abandoned on an EMU train on Wednesday even though the rulebook prescribes they must do a DNA first to confirm it’s her child.
Kalaiarasi and her auto-driver husband S Ravi were taken to the Bala Mandir children’s home on GN Chetty Road on Thursday to identify whether the baby found on the train was theirs.
Both of them broke down and the sobbing mother pleaded that she be allowed to feed the girl as she seemed hungry.
She also produced the green gloves of the baby that she had kept with her and that matched the green sweater. The police and CWC officials then agreed to let her feed the baby.
“It was a touching moment. The baby was glowing with happiness after the feed and the mother too seemed relieved of the pain that must have tormented her chest in the last two weeks”, recalled V Balaji, CWC member.
“It is true that law requires us to do the DNA match before returning the baby to the mother but we could not say ‘no’ to the woman. Our eyes turned wet when she said she was sure it was her baby because she remembered her way of feeding during the first five days before being stolen”, he told DC.
Since then, Kalaiarasi has been frequently traveling from RSRM hospital to Bala Mandir to feed the baby or at times sending bottles of her milk to ensure the child did not go hungry.
The DNA test samples will be taken tomorrow from the parents. “I will see you soon with sweets”, gushed Ravi.