THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A bunch of red rose flowers held against the raised placard reading “give me back my kid”. An empty cradle kept aside as a token of solidarity with a mother, who was forcefully separated from her child. And a bunch of activists, mostly women, hooting at the Children’s Day message of the Chief Minister being read out by Kerala State Council for Child Welfare (KSCCW) general secretary Shiju Khan JS.
That was how the protest of Anupama S Chandran and her husband Ajith, demanding removal of Shiju and District Child Welfare Committee (CWC) chairperson N Sunanda, fared on Sunday, which was also observed as the Children’s Day.
Anupama and Ajith have been protesting in front of the KSCCW from Thursday seeking removal of Shiju and Sunanda from their posts and return of their child, who is now reportedly on a pre-adoption foster care with an Andhra family. Anupama said the government was still not responding positively to her plight despite the protest.
Though the police had barricaded the protest site and barred the agitators from pitching a tent to protect themselves from the heavy rain, the activists on Sunday erected a make-shift tent. As the children’s rally came close to the protest site, Anupama raised the placard and waved at the children, who were part of the rally.
Anupama and her husband have been demanding ouster of Shiju and Sunanda alleging that they were behind giving away her child for adoption without her consent. The Family Court had recently asked the government to stall the adoption procedure and directed the government to conduct a DNA test to ascertain whether Anupama was indeed the biological mother of the child.