Trushali
- 4 June 2026
Kerala adoption row: DNA report confirms parentage | India News
Updated on: Nov 24, 2021 1:23 AM IST
Chandran and Kumar say that her father, a leader of the state’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), forcibly took away their child and put him up for adoption because he didn’t approve of the intercaste couple. Last month, a family court stayed the adoption process and ordered the DNA test.
Anupama Chandran and her husband K Ajith celebrate in front of Kerala State Council for Child Welfare in Thiruvananthapuram after receiving news about the DNA test results confirming them as the parents of the baby given up for adoption (Agencies)
Former Left student leader Anupama S Chandran and her husband Ajith Kumar are the biological parents of a one-year-old baby whose controversial adoption sparked a row in Kerala, a genetic test confirmed on Tuesday.
Chandran and Kumar say that her father, a leader of the state’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), forcibly took away their child and put him up for adoption because he didn’t approve of the intercaste couple. Last month, a family court stayed the adoption process and ordered the DNA test.
“This is the happiest day in my life. It is the victory of a mother,” Chandran told reporters with tears in her eyes. The couple was holding a sit-in protest outside a children’s home where the baby was kept by the authorities a week ago.
Minutes after the DNA (genetic identification test) result from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology in Thiruvananthapuram was issued , Child Welfare Committee (CWC) authorities allowed the mother and father to see the baby. There were joyous scenes outside the venue with the parents and activists distributing sweets.
“I thank the people who stood with me. I hope I will get custody of my baby soon,” said Chandran after meeting her child. She said she will continue her struggle till officials who allegedly colluded with her parents to give away the baby in a hurry were punished and reiterated her charge that “it was child trafficking.”
An official of the CWC said it will inform the family court about the test and request it to take an early decision. The baby was brought from Andhra Pradesh on Sunday and DNA samples of all three (mother, father and baby) was taken on Monday.
“It is a slap on the face of the government. It should take immediate action against officials who supported the adoption flouting all rules,” said K K Rema MLA, Revolutionary Socialist Party leader, who supported the young mother.
“It is a great victory for the mother. Sad, not even a single woman leader from the ruling CPI(M) met her. How can they take up women issues in the future?” asked Congress leader Bindu Krishna.
CPI(M) leaders didn’t comment on the development.
Health minister Veena George said the government will approach the court to expedite the transfer of the baby and denied any delay on the part of the government. “We are with Anupama and we will be happy to see child’s union with his parents,” she said.
In the second week of October, Chandran told reporters that her new-born baby was forcibly taken by her parents and given up for adoption, ignoring her protests. With her family being members of the ruling CPI(M), Chandran said that she took up the matter with senior leaders but was ignored.
On October 20, the police filed a complaint against six people, including her parents. In her complaint, she alleged that her father, S Jayachandran, a senior leader of the CPI(M) trade union wing CITU, took away her newborn child on the third day of delivery and handed it over to the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare (SCCW)-run orphanage in the state capital last year. The child was later given up for adoption in a hurry, flouting rules, she claimed in her complaint.
But her father maintained that the baby was born out of wedlock and hence shifted to a government-run children’s home with the consent of Chandran. He said she signed on stamp paper but Chandran later said she signed under duress. She said her parents opposed her relations with her husband Ajith since he belonged to a Dalit family.
The issue kicked up a row cornering the ruling Left Democratic Front and the state government. Many writers and left intellectuals appealed to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to intervene, but the CM said that it was a “family affair”.
However, state fisheries minister Saji Cherian criticised Chandran and backed her parents. “Her parents have done only what everyone will do in the society,” he said.
Later, Chandran filed a defamation compliant against the minister and said she approached many senior leaders but failed to get justice. Party insiders admitted that the issue was denting the image of the ruling CPI(M), and their poll plank of women’s rights.
The Central Adoption Resource Authority instructed the SCCW to give due weightage to the foster parents from Andhra Pradesh who were forced to hand over the baby to officials from Kerala on Sunday. A senior official of the CWC who did not want to be identified said top priority will be given to them during the next round of adoption.