SRI LANKA: A Sri Lankan baby boy who survived December's deadly tsunami has been given police protection after a distraught couple claiming to be his parents tried to snatch him from hospital.
Baby 81 - so named as he was the 81st admission into Kalmunai hospital, 380 km from the capital, Colombo, after the St Stephen's Day tsunami - will remain under police guard and, with the couple, will undergo a DNA test on February 9th to determine his parentage as per a court order.
The test results could be known within eight hours, paving the way for the infant, who was found on a beach amid bodies and debris nine hours after the tsunami hit Sri Lanka, to be united with his parents.
Besides Jenita Jeyarajah and her husband, Murugupillai, eight other women have so far stepped forward to claim Baby 81. The Jeyarajahs are the only couple to file a formal custody claim.
They say records proving they are the child's parents were lost in the tsunami and on Wednesday forced their way into hospital and tried to spirit away the infant. "Please give us our baby," Mrs Jeyarajah pleaded on bended knees before the head nurse in the hospital, begging to take the child home.
The couple barged into the hospital after Judge M.P. Mohaideen ordered DNA tests to determine whether the Jeyarajahs were the baby's parents.
Judge Mohaideen said the child would have to remain in a hospital's care until he reconvened to hear the DNA test results on April 20th, news which the couple greeted with hysterical dismay.
The Jeyarajahs and two supporters were arrested after being accused of roughing up nurses in the hospital. Judge Mohaideen, however, let them off with a warning yesterday. He also gave them hope by declaring that custody could be determined before April 20th, but he warned them not to create any more disturbances. "Everyone should follow the court order," the judge told the Jeyarajahs yesterday. "If you are the real parents, you will get the child ultimately."