5 months on, babies swapped at KNH to be handed over to

A baby boy and a baby girl, "swapped" in the state-run Kamla Nehru Hospital here on May 26, would be handed over to their biological parents on October 26, exactly after five months, following an amicable settlement between the parties in the Himachal Pradesh High Court today.
The couple -- Anjana Thakur and Jitender Thakur -- who were handed over the male child, were made respondents in the case by the court yesterday.
They were present in the court today and stated that they had arrived at an "amicable"settlement in view of the latest investigation report, read with the expert opinion, and had decided to exchange the babies on October 26, after performing religiousceremonies.

DNA tests of both the babies and their biological parents were conducted at the state Forensic Science Laboratory at Junga and the reports established that the complainant couple -- Anil Kumar and Sheetal -- who had alleged that their baby had been exchanged, were the biological parents of the baby boy.
The petitioner, Sheetal, had alleged that she had given birth to a child on the night of May 26 and the nurse had told her it was a baby boy. But, after about 20-25 minutes, a baby girl was handed over to her.
The court had directed the Shimla SP to take the investigation to its logical end at the earliest and had also asked the head of the concerned department at the hospital to conclude the departmental enquiry and filesuggestions on steps topreventsuchincidentsfrom happening inthe future.