According to British media reports, Meena Wadi, a poor laborer living in Gandhinagar, Gujarat state in western India, said that her children were abducted by strangers twice within two months. The child was only two days old when he was abducted for the first time.
"I won't let my son out of my sight again," Mina said.
"If I don't have a son, I'm afraid my husband will leave me"
The day after Mina returned home with her baby, the nightmare began. On April 1, local time, a strange woman who claimed to be a hospital nurse came to visit her home. After the greeting, the "nurse" told her that the newborn baby needs to be vaccinated as soon as possible.
Mina believed her and followed the "nurse" to the hospital. The "nurse" told Mina to wait where she was, while she carried the baby to "register for vaccinations".
Hours have passed and the woman who claimed to be a nurse has not returned. Mina felt that something was wrong. "I was frantically searching for my son in the hospital. The security guard heard my cry and came over and asked me what was going on. I immediately chose to call the police." Missing. Relevant sources said that the actual number of children being kidnapped was higher than official estimates because parents in poor areas rarely registered and reported the case.
However, Mina made a smart decision: she chose to call the police.
While taking notes at the police station, Mina discovers that she doesn't know anything about the woman. "I don't remember what the woman looked like, not even her name."
Police officer Zala (Zala), who was in charge of investigating the case, took the investigation team to review surveillance footage near Mina's home and around the hospital. Zara found on surveillance video a woman passing by wrapped in gauze with a package.
After visiting 500 nearby rickshaw drivers, Zara finally got a clue: A witness said he saw a woman traveling with a baby to a neighboring village.
Zara followed the clues to find the village. On an abandoned farm, he finds an abandoned ID card. Confused, Zara went to the address on the ID card. He found a woman and a child, but the child was not Mina's.
"The woman told me that her husband had eloped with another woman, X, and they stole her ID. So we went to her husband. In the end, we found Mina's child." Zha La said.
Woman X allegedly admitted that she abducted Mina's baby and tried to blame her "ex-wife" of her "current husband" - the woman on the ID card found by the police.
"I had a stillbirth before, so I desperately want a son. If there is no son, I am afraid my husband will leave me." Woman X said.
“Parents want sons,” said police officer Deepak Vyas. “No matter what, they want sons, not daughters. Wives are under pressure to have sons, even going so far as to kidnap poor families. child."
Mina brought her son home. Her happiness lasted only two months, and on June 9, her son was abducted for the second time.
More than 43,000 children are abducted every year
Officer Zara looked surprised when he saw Mina again. "She told me that her son had been kidnapped again, but it had only been two months since the first kidnapping. She said she put the baby under a tree to cool off and collected the waste herself. When she came back, The child is gone."
Zara found a suspect based on surveillance near Mina's house. Zara immediately contacted the Rajasthan police and arrested the suspect together.
The wives of the arrested suspects said they abducted Mina's children because they had no sons of their own. This reason is the same as that of the woman who kidnapped Mina's son before.
Mina reunites with her son again. Now, police Zara regularly visits Mina's house and brings many small toys.
"I am very grateful to the officer. The officer loves him more than we do," Mina said.
According to the United Nations Department of Women and Child Development, more than 43,000 children are abducted in India each year, and most of those abducted are male infants. Meanwhile, the Indian census shows that the number of girls under the age of seven is also in serious decline.
"Many families don't want girls, they just want boys. That way, they can get a good dowry. If the ultrasound shows a girl, the family will force the pregnant woman to have an abortion. Otherwise, it will lead to the abuse of girls, Cases of kidnapping of boys happened," said Kulwant, who is three times pregnant. Her mother-in-law had threatened to ask Culvante's husband to divorce her if she didn't have a son.
Although women in India have a longer life expectancy than men, India's male-to-female birth ratio is severely unbalanced. In 2011, out of every 1,000 boys born, only 914 girls were born. In 2020, that number has dropped to 904. About 100,000 female fetuses had been aborted in India as of 2011, according to a doctor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), India's premier medical school. Currently, the number of elective abortions is on the rise.
"Sexism exists. Families who can't have a baby boy are grieving, but to kidnap someone else's child is to inflict that misery on another innocent family," Kurvant said.
Wuhan Morning News intern reporter Dai Yiling
