Preet Mandir: mother says gave child for institutional care, not adoption

An HIV positive woman from Pune has approached the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), alleging that her 11-year-old child was given up for adoption from Preet Mandir even as she had not relinquished the child. The CWC will submitting the affidavit to the CBI for further investigation. The woman said she had given her child for institutional care and not adoption.

The woman approached Childline last week. “In her statement she has said after her husband’s death, as she was found to be HIV positive she put her child under institutional care in 2005. She was under the belief that her child was still there. When she heard the news of the arrest of Mandir managing trustee J S Bhasin, she approached the institute. She has found that her son was given for adoption even though she had not signed any relinquishment paper,” said Childline director Anuradha Sahasrabudhe.

Meanwhile, CWC members said since the case was in High Court and the CBI was handling the investigations of the institution, they would hand over the affidavit of the mother to the CBI for further investigations. “The mother has alleged that this is an illegal adoption and she had only kept the child for institutional care. We will let the CBI handle it,” said a CWC member on Thursday.

Even as managing trustee of Preet Mandir J S Bhasin was granted conditional bail on Wednesday, the judge ordered him to furnish a personal bond and surety of Rs 2 lakh. The judge ordered him also not to tamper with evidence or threaten witnesses.