UAE | Visa
Mother with illegitimate child in tow seeks amnesty
The child was born out of wedlock. His father, also an Indian, abandoned him and his mother soon after he was born. His mother, a 23-year-old who came to the UAE five years ago, now works as a part-time housemaid in four households in Sharjah.
- By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:02 July 11, 2007
- Image Credit: Illustration by Luis Vazquez/Gulf News
- The four-year-old boy accompanies her when she goes to work.
Dubai: A mother and her four-year-old boy have approached the Indian Association in Sharjah seeking amnesty.
The child was born out of wedlock. His father, also an Indian, abandoned him and his mother soon after he was born. His mother, a 23-year-old who came to the UAE five years ago, now works as a part-time housemaid in four households in Sharjah.
The boy accompanies his mother to all the houses where she works. While his mother is busy cleaning, the youngster plays in the corridors with the other children.
Passport
"He has never asked me about not having a father around. He has a high fever, but I cannot afford to take him to a clinic. I wanted to save, so I went to a pharmacy and got some paracetamol," said the mother.
She requested that Gulf News not identify them out of fear of retribution from the community and relatives back home.
The mother said that she does not have her passport and has approached the Indian amnesty centre at the Sharjah Indian Association, hoping to get some assistance and return home.
She said, "I have provided the Indian officials with whatever documents I have on me in support of my nationality. But I do not have my son's birth certificate, although I have submitted medical reports issued at clinics whenever he had gotten sick."
The mother said that her family in India has been told that she now has an illegitimate child. Her mother and two younger siblings have shown considerable support for her in her plight and have asked her to come back home.
"The father of my child is also an Indian and comes from the same South Indian state of Kerala. He just left me one day and did not bother to give me an explanation whatsoever. I never pursued him ... I don't care about his whereabouts," she said.
R.K. Nair, Consul Passport at the Indian Consulate, said the consulate approaches such cases with caution but does not turn away any woman who approaches them with an illegitimate child.
He said: "We ask the women to come to the consulate and approach counter number 8 where we examine their papers which they have to submit in support of their nationality and in support of them being the child's parent.
"We look into the humanitarian aspects involved in each of those cases ... they take a little time but are resolved. If the mother can produce the date of birth of the child, it also helps."
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