GUWAHATI: One might say what’s in a name but in suburban Assam, a mix-up of names led to a newborn’s swap – a case that was finally decided by the court through DNA testing.
On May 3, 2019, Najma Khanam had given birth to a baby boy at the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College and Hospital in Barpeta but as she had to be admitted to the ICU soon after, the newborn was shifted to the child care room.
The woman’s family members were shocked and crestfallen when, the next day, the hospital authority declared the infant had died. They claimed the baby was born healthy and he could not die.
In due course, the family filed a case with the police and a case under relevant sections of the IPC was registered.
During investigation, the police had learnt that a male newborn was admitted to the hospital on the same day in a critical condition and he died the same day. The infant’s mother was one Najma Khatun, who hailed from Kokrajhar district.
So, the investigating officer had filed a petition in a local court in 2020 praying for a DNA test and the court granted it. The report of the DNA test, which came after a long wait recently, turned out to be positive. The baby that grew up under Najma Khatun’s care was reunited with the biological mother, Najma Khanam, three years later.
According to reports, a nurse had mixed up the two infants, confused with the names of their mothers. As such, the dead infant was handed over to Najma Khanam’s family, inadvertently.
In 2018, a court in Mangaldai in the state had solved a similar problem. Two babies – one born to a tribal couple and the other to a Muslim couple – got swapped at a hospital mistakenly in 2015.
As they started growing up, their parents noticed they looked different. DNA tests revealed everything in due course and the families in a joint petition filed in the court agreed to exchange the boys.