Bitter legal battle for custody of Coimbatore toddler ends in favour of foster-parents

Arun: The ordeal is overFor toddler Arun, the ordeal is over. Abandoned by his own mother when barely a few days old and wrenched from his Italian foster-parents in Milan last December, hardly six months after he was given in adoption by St Helen's Home in Coimbatore, Arun - after going through all the cumbersome legal formalities - was flown back to India on court orders as a telephone operator in Virudhunagar claimed him to be his missing son. Fyzee Mohammed, the Coimbatore district and sessions judge, on March 16, decided the case in favour of Roberto Bartoccini, a Milan bank clerk, who adopted Arun last July. An uncomprehending Arun once again left the portals of St Helen's Home for Italy, hopefully for good, in the company of Bartoccini whose only comment was "all's well that ends well".The bitter legal battle for the custody of Arun started when T. Govindan, a Virudhunagar telephone operator, filed a petition in the Coimbatore district court on September 3 last year, praying for the restoration of his missing child, Karthik. Four-year-old Karthik disappeared from his home on January 21, 1980. In September, he came to know of an agency specialising in arranging foster homes in Europe for abandoned Indian children. From the district collectorate and the police he was able to spot the photograph of a child resembling his missing son for whom a passport had been issued. He also came to know that the child had been looked after by St. Helen's Home in Coimbatore before giving him in adoption to an Italian couple and that the child left India on July 18.When the Bartoccinis produced Arun before the court on December 10, Govindan and his wife claimed the boy as their missing son, Karthik. The child, however, showed no signs of recognition. Counsel for the Italian couple and St Helen's Home disputed Govindan's claim. While Karthik's date of birth was given as December 5. 1976, Arun was abandoned at the door steps of St Helen's Home on July 18, 1979, by a vagrant widow when the child was hardly a few days old.Not being endowed with Solomon's wisdom, the judge directed that a blood test be done to determine the boy's age and also the Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) test to ascertain his parentage at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. Meanwhile, the child was once again placed in the custody of St Helen's Home.HLA Test: Govindan, on whom the onus of proving his claim of paternity was placed, failed to undergo the HLA test for the child and for himself at the AIIMS in New Delhi. However, the blood group of Arun and Govindan was found to be identical. During testimony, the doctor who conducted the blood tests expressed the view that though it might be "suggestive", it could hot be treated as "conclusive evidence" to determine paternity. The forensic science expert who examined Arun felt the child should be about two years old on the basis of formation of molar teeth. Dr Shanmughakumar, the Government radiologist, who examined Arun deposed before the court that the child should be between two and two-and-a-half years old.Dismissing the petition without costs, the judge said the petitioner had not given any identity of Karthik except stating that the photograph of Arun resembled that of his missing son. Said Fyzee Mohammed: "The petitioner was making a hasty and baseless attempt to remove the child from the guardianship of the respondents." He held that there was overwhelming evidence before the court which indicated that the child in question could not positively be the missing child of the petitioner and allowed Bartoccini to take Arun with him on condition that he must be prepared to produce the child before the court in future, if required. The beaming, bearded bespectacled Bartoccini bugging Arun bid farewell to St Helen's Home and boarded the first available plane in Coimbatore, en route to Milan.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 22, 2013 09:16 IST--- ENDS ---

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Bitter legal battle for custody of Coimbatore toddler ends in favour of foster-parents

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