Imagine that the social stigma for delivering a baby girl is so high that some women deny that they gave birth to a girl and claim that their baby boy was taken from them after birth. Imagine that you’re an oldie enjoying retirement and four middle aged people turn up at your door claiming to be your children and demanding property and inheritance rights.
These two examples demonstrate the type of ‘social’ cases that a crime lab in Bangalore helps to solve. Set up originally to help solve criminal cases, social cases now amount to 50% of the lab’s workload.
It is sad but apparently common that some women really do claim their boy was swapped at birth by hospital staff, however, most of these cases are disproved by DNA tests from the lab. I have never given birth and don’t know if the corny scenes I see on TV about the mother/baby bond are true but imagine the trauma for all concerned. Does the mother push her new baby away? What does the mother do once the DNA test confirms the girl is hers and how is she and the baby girl treated once the truth is unveiled by the double helix?
Bubbly
