In a stunning example of communal harmony, two couples, one Muslim and the other Bodo, in Assam’s Darrang district have mutually agreed not to part with their sons despite DNA tests confirming they got swapped at birth in 2015, the Times of India reported.
Believe it or not, the biological son of Sahabuddin Ahmed and Salma Parveen now lives as Rakesh Boro, the son of Anil and Sewali Boro. Similarly, Anil and Sewali Boro’s baby lives as Zunaid in the Ahmed family.
The soul stirring tale of real life which is stranger than fiction goes back to 2015. The expecting mothers, Sewali and Salma both delivered sons on March 11, 2015, at Mangaldai Civil Hospital in Assam’s Darrang district. But in a case of gross negligence, the hospital authorities handed over the wrong babies to the individual mothers. The blunder went unnoticed for several days.
“A week after we came back from the hospital, I found my desolate wife crying and complaining that the baby did not belong to her as he looked different,” Sahabuddin, a teacher by profession, said.
He also added that true to his wife’s observation, his infant had smaller eyes akin to tribal features of this part of the region.
Around the same time, the Boros also had a similar experience.
Sahabuddin approached the hospital, but his complaint about swapping of babies was rejected. He then filed an RTI query seeking the names and addresses of all the women who delivered children at the hospital the day his wife did.
“There was one Bodo woman in the RTI reply I received. I wrote to the couple about the possibility of a mix-up. They invited us home and, after seeing the babies, were convinced there had been a mix-up. Boro’s mother, however, refused to accept the truth,” Sahabuddin added, according to the report.
He then approached the Darrang Superintendent of Police, who ordered an FIR in December 2015 and a DNA test. The test was conducted in April 2016 and the report came in November this year. However, incredibly the results made no difference to both the families.
“We have decided not to part with our son. I’ve raised Rakesh and breastfed him. How can I live without him?” Sewali said.
Echoing in similar tone, Salma also added, “We tried to see the reaction of the babies by swapping them, but they wouldn’t leave the mothers who raised them. We will not exchange them again.”