Couple With 7 Sons Brings Home Abandoned Baby Girl, State Objects

Jaipur: Two days after their seventh son was born, a Rajasthan couple, which had always longed for a girl child, found one abandoned near their farm and brought her home.

But Leeladhar Kushwah and Sukh Devi's joy quickly turned into anxiety after the administration told them that they cannot keep the baby and threatened to initiate police action unless they returned her. The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of Dholpur district had asked the couple to produce the abandoned girl before it on Tuesday but to no avail. The two had spotted the abandoned girl near their farm in Saimar Ka Pura village on September 15 and brought her home, two days after their seventh son was born.

Sukh Devi has been breastfeeding both infants ever since. It was Leeladhar who wrote to the the social justice department of the state informing them about the abandoned girl. However, the department in its reply asked him to hand over the girl to it. "We have written to the family and even had a talk with them to produce the abandoned girl before us today (Tuesday) but they did not turn up. We have to follow the law as there is a legal process for adoption," Dholpur CWC chairperson Brijendra Parmar said.

He said if the couple does not give up the baby, police action would be taken against them.