Vivek @ Muzaffar

AHMEDABAD: The New Year may dawn with a ray of hope for Mohammed Salim Sheikh and Jebunnisa to reunite with their lost son. Adopting a humanitarian approach, the Gujarat High Court has ordered the foster parents of “Vivek” to allow his biological parents to call on him once a week.

Salim and Jebunnisa had no idea of what happened to their two-and-a-half-year-old son, Muzaffar, who had been missing since February 28, 2002, when a frenzied crowd attacked the house of the former Congress MP, Ehsan Jafri, at Gulberg Society in the Chamanpura locality here.

The Salims had taken refuge in Mr. Jafri’s house, hoping that the influential leader would be able to save their lives. But when Mr. Jafri himself fell victim to the mob fury, the Salims fled the house but, in the melee, lost Muzaffar.

Since Muzaffar was not located among the charred bodies of the people burnt alive in Mr. Jafri’s house, the Salims had a faint hope that their son might still be alive. But for nearly six years, they had no idea of his whereabouts or if he was alive.

It was only in last July that the Salims were tipped off by the Mumbai-based social activist and convener of the Citizens for Justice and Peace, Teesta Setalvad, who had been working with communal riot victims, that their son was alive and was being brought up by a Hindu family, as its own child, at Saraspur.

In fact, Vikram Patni, a vegetable vendor, and his wife Meena found the crying child near a waste bin close to Gulberg Society the day after the mayhem.

Without knowing his real identity, they named the boy Vivek and were bringing him up along with their three children.

After the Supreme Court appointed a Special Investigation Team to look afresh into a dozen-odd gruesome riot cases, the Gulberg Society incident being one of them, Ms. Setalvad informed the SIT of her apprehension about Vivek. At the instance of the SIT, a DNA matching test was performed on Vivek and the Salims. That established them as his biological parents and the boy as their son, Muzaffar.

Vikram Patni has since died but Meena refused to part with the child. The Salims filed a case in the Ahmedabad Metropolitan Court demanding custody of their son, but it ruled in favour of Meena because Vivek could not recognise the Salims and refused to go with them. Now about nine years old, Vivek opted to stay with the Patnis where, as he told the court, he was very happy.

Armed with the court verdict, Meena turned down the Salims’ request to allow them to see the boy once in a while. At this, the Salims to file a case in the High Court against the lower court’s order and renewing their demand for the custody of the child.

But before going into the legalities, Justice D. H. Waghela, in a humanitarian gesture, summoned both parties for a discussion, after which it was agreed that Meena would take Vivek every Sunday to the Salims’ house at Vatwa to meet his biological parents for two hours. The arrangement will continue at least till January 27, 2009, date of the next hearing.

Court sources said the effort was to see if the biological parents were able to woo their son back during the weekly interaction. If not, the boy’s wish will ultimately prevail and the court may be forced to allow Muzaffar to live with the Hindu family.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/01/stories/2009010159891200.htm