It was later found that N Khatun's son had died in the hospital. (Representational)
In a bizarre incident, a mother's three-year-long legal battle ended after reuniting with her son, who got exchanged at birth in Assam's Barpeta district. The case was decided after a court ordered a DNA test that ascertained the birth parents of a three-year-old boy.
According to the police, on May 3, 2019, a woman named N Khanam gave birth to a boy at Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College in Barpeta. Soon after the child's birth, the mother started facing severe breathing issues and the child's health also deteriorated. As a result, the child was shifted to the ICU. Later, the medical authorities told the parents that their child had died.
The police added that the couple initially refused to take the body but later claimed that the body handed over was not of their son. The couple went back to the hospital after three days and found in records that there was another woman N Khatun with the same name and nearly same surname had given birth to a boy. N Khanam then registered a case with the police claiming that her son was exchanged at the medical hospital during birth.
Police, in its investigation, found that Ms Khatun had given birth to a child three years ago in Assam's Gossaigaon, and later the child was referred to the medical college in Barpeta. However, later in the investigation, it was found that the child that M Khatun had given birth to died.
When the matter went to the court to ascertain the actual parents, the court ordered a DNA test, and it was found that the child raised by N Khatum was Ms Khanum's biological son.
Ms Khatun husband said, “The child was handed over to us after treatment in Barpeta medical college. We thought it was our child. Later, the police told us about the incident when the boy was 8 months old. We agreed to a DNA test since we were sure he was our son, but now the court has ordered that he's their son, and we are left devastated."