2 families, a shared anxiety: A fear their babies are swapped

IN THE 1ST CASE, A DNA TEST SHOWED THE BABY WASN'T THEIRS. IN THE 2ND CASE, THE FAMILY WAS TOLD THE BABY WAS A BOY, BUT WERE LATER HANDED A GIRL

- Sabah Virani

Two families, separated by mere 6 kilometres, living in similar match-box housing, find themselves bound by a similar predicament that is testing their capacity for love and compassion. Seemadevi Kumbhar and Sunita Gangadhar Gajengi delivered their babies three months apart at two of Mumbai's famed public hospitals, King Edward Memorial and Jerbai Wadia Hospital. Both have alleged that their infants were swapped with another at the hospital.

While one of the families is on the cusp of getting to the truth on December 4, the other family faces a long-winded fight to be reunited with their biological child. What is certain is this: they do not want to live with the niggling doubt that the child they walked out of the hospitals with is not theirs.

Kumbhar had a C-section delivery at KEM Hospital at Parel on September 26 and the nurse at the station told her brother-in-law that she had delivered a boy. However, half hour later the family was handed over a baby girl. Her husband Sunil who works as a freelance AC-repair technician filed a complaint with the Bhoiwada police station and the family refused to take the baby home. As the police investigation dragged on, Kumbhar had to spend two months in the hospital mothering the infant she's not sure is hers. "I've been taking care of the baby like she's my own right from the beginning and feeding her," said Kumbhar, "but the doctors and nurses at the hospital treated me poorly. They forced me to sign papers saying that I was responsible for the child."