RAICHUR: In her quest to trace her long lost biological mother, a German national has been travelling across Karnataka for a decade. The fact that her foster parents adopted her illegally in 1981 has made her search difficult, as some official records have reportedly vanished, affecting the lady’s efforts to find out where she had been taken from, by her adoptive parents.
Mariya Chaya Schupp, a teacher by profession, was adopted when she was a four-year-old from a shelter called Nirmala Social Welfare (NSW) in Ullal in Mangaluru. Mariya learnt this from her foster mother Ingrid Schupp. “My foster mother, Ingrid, told me that I was an abandoned street kid from India. This led me to my search.”
Mariya, who has been searching for her mother for a decade, has now landed at Raichur based on information that her mother Girija Ganiga moved to Raichur from Mangaluru. “In the initial days, when I began the search, I was not even aware of her name. However, in Ullal, after I started searching, some neighbours revealed that her name is Girija Ganiga and she has relocated, probably to Raichur,” Mariya said. Now she has contacted the media and activists in Raichur seeking their help to find Girija.
Mariya squarely alleged that her adoption was illegal. Her foster mother adopted her through an adoption agency named Pro-Infant Adoption. However, this agency is currently facing a ban in Germany, according to her. The shelter, which Ingrid contacted through the agency flouted certain norms, Mariya alleged.
An advocate from Mangaluru, Dinesh Hegde Ulepady, who assisted her, said that during Mariya’s adiption, NSW went to Madurai district court and not the Mangaluru court as mandated by law. “The consultation at Madurai court raised eyebrows and the shelter home failed to comply with the norms,” he alleged.
Mariya further said that in 2006, she moved the Karnataka High Court when NSW declined to handover the adoption documents and details of her biological mother. Following this, the HC ordered Ullal police station to investigate the case and transferred the case to JMFC (Judicial Magistrate First Class) III. However, the Ullal police said to the court that the documents were damaged due to heavy rains.
Mariya said that she has faint memories of her biological mother and has a photo of her. “I will relentlessly work towards finding her. My love for her will not fade. As I intensify my search, my love for her simply increases. I will search in every every nook of Raichur for her. I desperately want to meet her.”