Three years after her nine-month-old son Rajkumar was allegedly forcibly taken and given up for adoption, Narayani has a ray of hope. Following the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission, an FIR has been registered in the case, naming among others the Gorakhpur DIG, who was then the SSP of Bareilly.

Narayani, who is the mother of seven children (Rajkumar is the youngest), claims the police forcibly took her son away and handed her over to a "firangi woman". As per the FIR, the woman is a Mauritian national called Geeta, who is believed to be part of an adoption racket. Apart from her and DIG Anand Swaroop, the others accused in the case are a nurse then working in a Delhi hospital, Pinky; Delhi-based advocates B L Madhukar, Naresh, Lokesh and Roshi; and a constable, Viresh.

As you enter Ruria village in Bareilly's Fareedpur area and ask for Narayani, everyone points you to the house of "the woman whose child was sold off".

According to Narayani, her ordeal began when she was admitted to "Ambedkar Hospital" in Delhi's Rohini Sector 7 area for treatment of tuberculosis. "I spent Rs 3,000 on the first three days of her treatment. Then I left my wife and our nine-month-old son in hospital and returned to the village to arrange for more money," says Mewalal, Narayani's husband who works as a rickshaw puller.

According to Narayani, a nurse at the hospital, realising her predicament, offered her monetary help and a job and took her to her house. "After taking care of me for over 10 days, she introduced me and my husband to advocate Madhukar, who took us to a hotel in the Karol Bagh area," she says.

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