Chennai: For Nageshwar Rao and Sivagami life took a turn for the worse when their son Subhash was kidnapped from them when he was just about three years old. They were one of the many victims of the illegal adoption facilitated by Malaysian Social Services (MSS) an orphanage which for years has been involved in the illegal adoption of underprivileged children to other countries.
Twenty years later, the couple has finally reunited with their son, now named Avinash. “I feel happy and sad at the same time. I’m happy to have seen him after so many years and sad that he will have to go back.”, father Rao says of their bitter-sweet reunion. Avinash was kidnapped by an auto-driver from their home in Pulianthope and sold to MSS, which in turn made big money giving the boy in adoption to a couple in the USA.
Recalling that unfortunate night Rao says, “our world collapsed when we realised he was gone. We searched for him everywhere.” The family then ran from pillar to post having filed a complaint with the Commissioner and Inspector General and finally, the case was taken over by the CBI.
“Even though the CBI traced his whereabouts, it was only in 2017 that we were put in touch with him”, says Rao.
Though this is the first time Avinash came down to India to meet his family, he has been in touch with his parents and two siblings -Sarala and Lokesh-- for over two years now. However as Avinash only knows English, he banks on his advocate Mohanavadivelan for communicating with his birth family. He has already made plans to get to know his birth family better. He is in Chennai till Thursday and plans to visit their home and the hospital where he was born. Besides, they were planning to go to the Marina beach and to Mahabalipuram before Avinash flies back to his foster home in the US.
A Chennai court convicted MSS earlier this year, and a imposed a measly fine of Rs 10,000. MSS chairman P. V. Ravindranath had died by that time, after dragging himself along with his wife, a co-accused in the case, to the court multiple times as the trial meandered on for years, in typical Indian justice delivery system.
