Shimla Moms Accidentally Switch Babies At Birth, Tearfully Exchange Them 5 Months Later

The very thought of parting with their babies brings tears in the eyes of Anjana Thakur and Sheetal, who became mothers on May 26 this year. For the past five months, they spent many sleepless nights to feed the babies and now they will have to exchange the babies, as the DNA report has confirmed that they are not the biological mothers of the babies with them.

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While they are joyous over getting their own babies on October 26, they are also sad at the thought of parting with the baby with them, who they treated as their own all these months.

Coming out of the courtroom on Friday, both Anjana and Sheetal were in tears. Anjana was sad over the fact that she was not the biological mother of five -month-old Nitansh, whom she treated as her own, while Sheetal was in tears with the thought of parting with her daughter.

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Both mothers were cursing the staff of Kamla Nehru Hospital here, where the babies were swapped at the labour room, immediately after the deliveries. The aggrieved parents are demanding strict action against the hospital staff for this major goof -up.

On October 26, a religious ceremony will be performed at the house of Anjana and Jitender Thakur at Khalini in Shimla, where Sheetal and her husband would also go with the baby girl, and after completion of the ceremony, will return with their baby boy.

Sheetal said she was informed about the birth of her baby boy, but was later handed over a girl. She said on getting doubts about the delivery, she got a DNA test done and found that the girl was not hers. However, the hospital administration was not ready to accept this, and knocked at the courts to get justice.

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She said in the past five months, she had undergone immense pain over the separation from her son, but now she would have to bear the pain of separating with her 'daughter' too. She said her love for the baby girl would remain for rest of her life.

Anjana said she and her husband actually wanted a daughter, as they did not have any in the family. She said after the babies were swapped, they had gone to the hospital to find out the truth. Now after five months, they came to know about their daughter. While they are happy they would be getting their baby girl, they are also pained by the thought of separating with the baby boy they were taking care of as of their own.

As the high court division bench of Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir, and Justice Sandeep Sharma has directed the Shimla SP DW Negi to conclude the investigation and take the proceedings to their logical end as early as possible, some arrests in this case -- for lapses resulting in mental and emotional trauma for both the parents of boy and girl -- are not being ruled out.