In a joint effort, the city police and the District Child Welfare Committee (DCWC) rescued the third child of a poor family of Professorpara here on Thursday.
The 20-month-old male child of Tikili Barik was with a childless couple in Bihar for over a month and the couple came down here to hand over the kid to the DCWC in the presence of police.
“There was no monetary transaction in the case, and Tikili had handed over her son to one Sibu Agarwal and his wife Smita of Bihar for the care and comfort of the baby,” said DCWC member Pradeep Kumar Patnaik.
Under Section 44 of the Juvenile Justice Act, the child was restored back to the Bihar family for foster care, Patnaik said, adding that the couple has been asked not to move out of Cuttack district before the completion of all formalities of adoption in the case.
Similarly, a Ranchi-based couple, who had also taken a 40-month-old son of Tikili, is also in the city to complete the formalities of adoption, Patnaik said.
It may be recalled that last week, the DCWC had rescued a 18-day-old child of Tikili from Choudwar here after police complaints were made that Tikili had sold her three children due to abject poverty.
Investigations by the DCWC revealed that Tikili ekes out a living by working as a domestic help to sustain her six children while her husband is a drunkard. Upon suggestions from some of her neighbours, Tikili had handed over her three children to three different couples for foster care.