Taking the lead in preventing female foeticide, eunuchs in Madhya Pradesh have started adopting female babies of indigent parents.
Poonam John, an eunuch in Ratlam district of Madhya Pradesh, has appealed to poverty struck parents not to opt for foeticide and instead hand over female
babies to her. She has already adopted two girls.
Last Tuesday she adopted six-month-old Roshani, her second after Sonu whom she had adopted some two and a half years ago. Sonu was then two-days-old.
"The parents of Roshani, Mohan and Pushpa, are poor labourers and I adopted Roshani when they expressed their helplessness in feeding her," said John.
Giving her reason for adopting the girls, John said, "The girls are being killed throughout the country. Their number is decreasing by the day. So I thought of saving their lives by adopting them."
"Their life is saved and I have got the opportunity to enjoy motherhood which would have not been possible otherwise," she added.
Driven by her long nurtured dream of enjoying motherhood Suraiya Nayak, a eunuch in Bhopal, adopted a baby girl on Monday. Nayak had found the abandoned child and taken a vow to bring her up with all love and care.
"I am very happy after adopting this child. I cannot have my own children, so I thought of adopting one. I got this child from a hospital where she was abandoned by somebody," said Nayak.
However, she refused to disclose the name of the hospital fearing that the child's mother may come to reclaim her and promised that the girl would be kept away from singing or dancing like eunuchs to earn a livelihood.
"I will educate her. To keep her away from other eunuchs and the environment we live in, I will send her to a hostel. After her studies are complete, I will also get her married in a proper manner," said Nayak.