CNN/IBN - how Preet Mandir sourced children for adoption
Video 1:
Video 2:
Video 3:
Video 4:
http://www.ibnlive.com/news
ion/50883-3.html
Children snatched & stolen, racket is called adoption
Parul Malik
CNN-IBN
FOCUS ON ADOPTION: CNN-IBN proves the goverment has not cracked down on
adoption racket.
New Delhi: Child trafficking in India has a new guise to wear: adoption.
Poor families are duped of their children, who are declared orphans and put
up for adoption by families who can pay in thousands.
Renuka, 18, lost her three younger sisters to an adoption racket. An Italian
couple took the help of Preet Mandir, an adoption and child welfare agency
in Pune, to adopt the sisters. CNN-IBN, in several reports since last year,
had exposed Preet Mandir for selling children in the name of adoption.
The way it tricked Renuka's parents proves it is still operating its racket.
It promised to educate Renuka's sisters but then asked their father, who
can't read, to sign on papers which said he was giving them away for
adoption. The girls were then declared orphans.
"People from Preet Mandir came and took away my sisters. They said they
would educate them. My uncle visited them twice but then people at Preet
Mandir they said don't come here again because the children are getting
disturbed," says Renuka.
Guidelines framed by the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA), the
watchdog on adoptions in India, say siblings should be kept together if
possible, but a family court in Pune strangely forgot to mention Renuka when
permitting her sisters to be adopted.
Preet Mandir, in a document, declared that Renuka's parents were dead and
their father had given all his children to the welfare agency before his
death. The document said Rani was the eldest sibling in the family and
Indian families had refused to adopt either her or her siblings because she
was HIV positive.
CARA bought this lie and gave a no-objection certificate to Preet Mandir.
"They took my father's signature on a paper but he could hardly read as he
had only studied up to Class III," says Renuka.
Renuka's parents are dead and her sisters are in a foreign country. Her
grandfather Bhagwan Chougali takes care of her now. "I have everything in my
house. I cook for them and I can provide for them but I can't do without
them," says Chougali.
Renuka's was cheated of her sisters, and Lakshmi Solanki of her infant
daughter. Laksmi gave Priyanka to Love Trust, a childcare centre in
Buldhana, Maharashtra, temporarily after she was severely burnt by her
husband.
"I am not in good health and so gave my child to the childcare centre but
they put her up for adoption," alleges Renuka. Priyanka's parents are alive
but a relinquishment deed by Love Trust has "freed" her for adoption. The
trustees of Love Trust told CNN-IBN CARA guidelines allow them to do so.
"In a period of two months that they can come and claim the baby. Our basic
aim is the baby's adoption. We cannot keep the baby with us forever," says
Dr Seema Agashe, Gynecologist and Trustee, The Love Trust.
Snatched away in Satara
CNN-IBN then travelled to Karad and met Kisabai Lokhande, who had kept her
granddaughters, Ashwini and Komal, at an observation home in Satara. She
discovered days later that her girls had been moved to Preet Mandir.
"When I met them in Pune, my elder granddaughter Komal said not to worry for
her because Preet Mandir was taking good care of them. Preet Mandir people
said don't worry about your granddaughters and don't visit them because you
are poor and will waste money on travel," says Kisabai.
Preet Mandir then put out a newspaper notice, which said Kisabai had 30 days
to reclaim her grandchildren and they would be given for adoption if she
didn't respond on time. Preet Mandir knew Kisabai would never see the ad.
Kisabai's granddaughters were given to a couple in Spain who don't know they
had been conned by child traffickers. "I miss them a lot. I have lost my
appetite and I keep falling ill. I will do anything to get them back. I had
sent them to the observation home so that they go to school, not abroad,"
says Kisabai.
Poverty and illiteracy are endemic in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra.
It is a potent combination that makes this a preferred hunting ground for
the baby snatchers.
Baby snatchers will spare none to keep the money coming. When Govind's
parents died of HIV, his anganwadi teacher took him to a child welfare home
in Parbhani for care. "The people at the welfare home told us do not come
here for at least four months. If you do the child will cry and insist on
leaving the welfare home," says anganwadi teacher Suprabha Manikrao Wakhde.
Within months Govind was transferred to Preet Mandir and sold to an Italian
couple. The Parbhani Police says Govind's adoption papers were in order and
that his uncle had not responded to Preet Mandir's 30-day notice period.
Govind's uncle, Dhondiram Solanki, alleges his thumb impression was taken on
blank papers. I am illiterate and didn't know what I agreed to. There is no
question of me reading newspapers," says Solanki.
The same kind of racket is being repeated in Andhra Pradesh. In Medak
district, a racketeer tricked Lakshmi Malkiah and sent her daughters to the
US eight years ago.
"A man called Sanjeeva Rao told me he would help me in getting my daughters
into school but gave the children away. I came to know of this later. People
abused me; they said I sold my kids," says Lakshmi Malkiah.
Rao's racket was busted and Lakshmi trace her daughters. She now meets them
once a year for a few hours.
28 girls in limbo
Sister Theresa Maria was responsible for over 500 illegal adoptions
uncovered in 2001, after which Andhra Pradesh placed a ban on foreign
adoptions. Fathima was one of her victims. Unable to pay for her caesarian
operation, Theresa kept Fathima's baby as collateral.
"The Sister asked me to sign on papers which said my daughter will be given
for adoption after my death. I didn't know what I was signing on," says
Fathima.
Fathima's daughter, Anusha, lives with her adopted family in Germany.
Fathima hopes when Anusha grows older she will come back to meet her, but 28
girls in Theresa's Tender Loving Care Home are trapped. Sister Theresa won't
allow Indian couples to adopt them and the Andhra government won't let them
to go foreign families.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news
ndir/50843-3.html
Adoption racket: CBI gives clean chit to Preet Mandir
Parul Malik
CNN-IBN
FLAWS IN TESTIMONIES: The CBI has relied on testimonies of unwed mothers.
New Delhi After the CNN-IBN Special Investigation exposed child trafficking
at a Pune based adoption agency, the CBI was asked to investigate and its
preliminary findings seem to clear the adoption agency. The CBI in its
preliminary enquiry on the matter has given a clean chit to the agency
involved.
The CBI has relied on testimonies of unwed mothers saying they willingly
handed over their babies for adoption. But one such mother says she was
never questioned by the CBI.
"No one from CBI approached me. I didn't give up my child. I was just told
to sign," says the mother.
The Maharashtra Government had initially recommended the suspension of Preet
Mandir's foreign adoption license, after confirming that extra donations
taken from foreign parents had not been documented.
But three months later, the Maharashtra Women and Child Welfare Department
did a strange U-turn, saying they found no evidence of child trafficking or
sale of children outside the adoption process.
The home for unwed mothers in Talegaon, exposed as a source of cheap babies
to sell abroad not only got a clean chit but was also commended for its
welfare work.
The cover-up was complete in January 2007, when Dr Jagannath Pati from the
Central regulatory authority CARA, visited Preet Mandir only to say that he
found no cases there of babies being snatched from biological parents or of
foreign couples being preferred to Indian adoptive parents.
At no point did the CBI or the Maharashtra Government or the Central
Adoption Regulatory Authority ask the investigation for documents in its
possession that showed how adoption agencies were involved in child
trafficking. Yet they have given clean chits to the agencies involved.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news
chit/50882-3.html
Adoption watchdog gives child traffickers clean chit
Parul Malik
CNN-IBN
PAID FOR BY PREET MANDIR: J K Mittal denies that suspect agency paid for his
hotel stay in Pune.
New Delhi/ Pune: Preet Mandir, an adoption agency in Pune, is the front for
a child trafficking racket. A CNN-IBN Special Investigation exposed Preet
Mandir and its owner J S Bhasin last year but it is still in business
because India's adoption watchdog has turned a blind eye.
After CNN-IBN's investigation in June 2006, the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) was asked to investigate Preet Mandir. The CBI says it
took the testimonies of unwed mothers who said they willingly handed over
their babies for adoption. But one such mother says the CBI never questioned
her.
"No one from the CBI approached me. I didn't give up my child and the
adoption agency asked me to sign a paper," says the woman, who didn't want
her name to be revealed.
The Maharashtra government in July 2006 first recommended that Preet
Mandir's foreign adoption license be suspended because it had not documented
donations it took from foreign couples. But in October the Maharashtra Women
and Child Welfare Department did a U-turn and said it hadn't found evidence
of child trafficking, or sale of children outside the adoption process.
A home for unwed mothers in Talegaon, which was Preet Mandir's source for
cheap babies to sell abroad, was first given a clean chit and later
commended for its welfare work.
At no point did the CBI or the Maharashtra Government or Central Adoption
Resource Agency (CARA), the regulatory authority for adoptions in the
country, ask CNN-IBN for documents that proved adoption agencies'
involvement in child trafficking.
CARA had a vested interested in absolving Preet Mandir and returning its
foreign adoption licence. CARA chairperson J K Mittal stayed in Pune's
Aurora Towers hotel for two days in June 2007 and got a bill of Rs 16,000.
Guess who paid the bill? Preet Mandir's owner Bhasin did.
Mittal told CNN-IBN he had paid for the bill and gave us a copy of a bill
which says he paid Rs 11,000 for the hotel stay. But CNN-IBN has found that
the bill of Rs 11,000 is the record of a discount given by the hotel on the
original Rs 16,000-bill, which was settled by Preet Mandir through a credit
card account.
The cover-up was completed in January 2007 when Dr Jagannath Pati of CARA
visited Preet Mandir and absolved it of allegations that it was stealing
babies from their parents and selling them to foreign couples.
Just ahead of an international conference in October 2007, CARA published in
newspapers a list of recognised adoption agencies in the county. But
strangely, Preet Mandir is listed as an active adoption agency in CARA
booklets meant for internal circulation.
Preet Mandir got a clean chit and the permission to continue managing Shishu
Sadan, a government-owned adoption home in Aurangabad. Preet Mandir was
licensed to place children for adoption within India but used Shishu Sadan
as a source for children to traffic abroad. Shishu Sadan officials though
deny links with Preet Mandir.
Dr Sengupta, who is in charge of Shishu Sadan, claimed they were not a
branch of Preet Mandir. Shishusadan's certificate of recognition doesn't
mention the institute's license number or the date it was given a licence.
"I don't have to show you or explain things," said Dr Sengupta.
The Women and Child Department in Pune attribute the blanks to a clerical
error.
Documentary Proof
a) Preet Mandir paid for J K Mittal's hotel stay: bill 1, bill 2, bill 3
b) How CBI gave clean chit to Preet Mandir
http://www.ibnlive.com/news
0909-3.html
Child adoption process needs to be transparent
Parul Malik
CNN-IBN
QUICK ACTION: Adoption is crucial for thousands of destitute children in
India.
New Delhi: Misinformation violates the rights of biological parents, of the
child and the adoptive parents. And yet adoption is crucial for thousands of
destitute children. So it is important to look at solutions that would make
the entire process transparent and free from racketeers.
Chaya Maria Schupp is 31. She has come from Germany looking for her birth
mother from Mangalore.
Chaya spent the first seven years of her life with her Indian mother. Before
a German family adopted her. Chaya's is still to find her mother.
Schupp says, "In my case there are no records. I cannot believe it I filed a
case in High Court. I spend so much money coming. India is no holiday."
Single and unwed mothers are most vulnerable to child traffickers. With
support many of them could raise their children themselves.
Child Adoption Activist Gita Ramaswamy says, "There should be, for all unwed
mothers, separated mothers, there should be a kind of support system as
there is in the west."
No adoption agency should run an unwed mothers' home. Doing so creates a
conflict of interests as the agency is directly interested in acquiring a
child for adoption.
There is also the issue of dubious grants from international agencies that
come in the form of 'Humanitarian Aid'.
"If I am giving you 50lakhs then I know that 6 babies are coming to me this
year. Its like per baby so much money. Because if you examine the figures
the donation received by particular agency over the year and number of baby
shifted over the years. You will see there is a close tally, "Ramaswamy
adds.
These are indirect illegal payments for babies that must be curbed.
Professor Hilda Rayappan from Prajna Counseling Centre says, "So let them
pay the money whatever money they have to pay to the placement agency or
anybody else in the process let them pay to the district treasury and get
the challan and produce it to the placement agency."
Adoption agencies here just have to be made more accountable.
Stree Jagruti Samiti Secretary Geeta Menon says, "The agency should put up a
declaration or a white paper every month as to how these adoption takes
place, how many papers are there, what kind of medical records are produced,
you know they should be accountable to the public."
Foreign adoption itself need not be discourage as there are some children
with no takers within India.
Bombay High Court Advocate Abhay Nevagi says, "In India I am sure very
rarely an Indian family will consider a child whos mother was tested HIV
positive but there are many cases foreigners simply ignore it."
The role of scrutiny agencies needs to be reexamined if malpractice in
adoptions is to be avoided.
"Free for adoption is a right of the Child Welfare Committee but we know
quite a few placement agencies bypassing the responsibility of the Child
Welfare Committee they are not producing the surrendered children to the
child welfare committee at all, "Rayappan adds.
With CARA now promising to quicken foreign adoptions, who will ensure that
families are not being broken up by dubious adoption agencies? Who will
bring such child-traffickers to book? When will the system become
transparent and corruption-free? For the sake of these children, it's best
that we remain optimistic.