'Surrendering' to social stigma

Kundan Pandey
INDORE: For 15-year-old Sunita (name changed), there were only two options. Either to kill or to abandon her baby who was born out of an incestuous relationship. Keeping the child would have made her a subject of social trauma for the rest of her life.
Hence, she chose to 'surrender' the kid. Sunita's is one among the many similar cases that are reported from Indore district.While cases of abandoning infants are still on rise, the women and child welfare committee office received about 400 applications in the past five years where parents, out of fear and compulsions, asked the administration to take care of the infants for the rest of their lives.
Dr Nitin Shukla, a former member of the committee, who was witness to the moment, recalled, "The department officials tried to convince parents of Sunita to keep the child with them. But they expressed inability as he was born of the same blood. Everybody, including officials of the committee were moved over the incident, and some could not hold back their tears."
Underlining the hardships faced by Sunita's family, Dr Shukla said after learning about the pregnancy, her parents had sent her off to some relatives to keep the matter a secret. Later, when the girl gave birth to the baby, they met the committee officials and placed a request to surrender the newborn.
"Albeit, it was a tough decision for them and tears rolled down their cheek as well while being separated from the infant. But the fear of social stigma prevailed over them," he added.
According to Dr Shukla, who left the department recently, most of the cases of surrender involve children born out of incest, consensual or forced sexual relationship. Such children are generally sent to the orphanages and agencies for their proper care.
When contacted, women and child welfare department officer Vishal Nadkarni said that such cases were coming to notice large numbers of late. "Even on Thursday, a woman had abandoned her child in Depalpur. When it was brought to our notice, we counselled her and she surrendered her baby," he added.