DNA test planned to verify woman’s claim to child

The authorities are planning to go for the DNA test of a woman from Kozhikode, who has filed an application seeking the custody of a child who was found in the Ammathottil electronic cradle installed at the Government General Hospital, Kozhikode, on March 12.

According to official sources, the child was eight days old when he was found in the cradle. He was named ‘Aarav’ later.

The sources quoting the woman who claimed to be his mother, however, said she could not bear the separation from her child for more than one-and-a-half months.

She soon contacted the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) officials and submitted an application to reclaim the child. Though official roadblocks followed, the provision that parents can reclaim their child within 60 days of placing them in the Ammathottil came to her rescue.

She later met the officials at the district collectorate.

Thereafter, the CWC officials forwarded her application to the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare, which maintains the cradle.

The sources said that the police would now conduct an inquiry based on her application and test her DNA samples to check her claims.