Court restores swapped son to parents after 7 years

Amritsar, May 19 (UNI) A court here restored seven-year-old Amarpartap Singh, who was exchanged with a girl child by a midwife soon after his birth at a private nursing home in 2000, to his bilogical parents today.

Amritsar District Session Judge K C Puri handed over the child to his ''real'' parents Harish Kumar and Manju as per the directions of Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The jubilant couple, who fought a long legal battle to get their son, were glad that they had at last got ''justice after suffering emotionally, mentally and financially for a long time.'' The couple had been fighting for their son since they came to know about the exchange after the midwife was caught by Kotwali police in the racket of child swapping in 2002.

During her interrogation, the midwife Ramesh Rani, now in jail, had confessed to the police that she had sold the child to a couple Sukhjinder Singh and Ranjit Kaur of village Raipur Kalan.

Before handing over the child, the court also directed that he must be provided counselling as he will now face a new atmoshpere.

The Sharifpura residence of Harish Kumar was today swarmed by friends, relatives and media as his father Sherjang, welcomed his grandson amid a festive atmosphere.

UNI