By Kanu Sarda, IANS,
New Delhi : They married in secret before the age of consent. They had a baby and handed him over to an acquaintance as they still didn’t want their relatives to know. When they became adults, they married again and wanted the child back. The acquaintance refused. So the couple is now in court here.
Pallavi and Sushil, the parents, married secretly in February 2006 when both were minors. Their baby boy was born on Sep 24, 2007, at Safdarjung Hospital here and was immediately handed over to Asha as the couple wanted to avoid questions from relatives. They had met Asha through a common friend.
After Pallavi and Sushil reached the age of consent, they married again on Nov 22, 2007. After a few months, they asked Asha to return their child, but she did not.
“Soon after their marriage, the couple approached Asha to return the child but she always made lame excuses on one pretext or the other and did not return the child to them despite repeated requests,” Kamal Singh Pundhir, lawyer for Pallavi, told IANS.
So, the couple decided to move court against Asha and the local police who despite several requests did not lodge any complaint against the woman and did not help them to get their child back.
“We have filed a complaint under section 97 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) (search for persons wrongfully confined) for issuance of search warrant for the child in Asha’s home,” said Pundhir.
Metropolitan Magistrate Naveen Arora Friday ordered the police to look into the matter and file an action taken report by Wednesday, the next date of hearing.
Anil Kumar Singh, another lawyer representing the couple, said Asha had called Sushil on May 12, 2008, to her house and had demanded Rs.18,000 for returning the child.
“Sushil gave Rs.10,000 to her but she refused to hand over the baby to him till he makes the remaining payment of Rs.8,000. But when on May 14, Sushil went to her home with the money, she refused to give the child and challenged him to take whatever action he wants to against her,” added Singh.