KALMUNAI, Sri Lanka, 17 February 2005 — An overjoyed Sri Lankan couple were handed back a baby tsunami survivor yesterday after a seven-week ordeal in which they passed a landmark DNA test to prove their parentage.
Junita and Murugpillai Jeyarajah walked out of the District court here carrying their only son Abilass, reunited seven weeks after the child was rescued from under a pile of garbage following the Dec. 26 tsunami.
A nurse gave the child back to his mother before Judge M.P. Moahaidein who on Monday ordered the baby to be returned to the couple.
“We are very happy, but at the same time feel sad that a lot of people were killed on that day,” Murugpillai Jeyarajah said of the tsunamis that killed nearly 31,000 people and made a million homeless.
As the couple and the baby drove in a vehicle provided by the United Nations Children’s Fund, a dozen vans carrying journalists and television crews followed.
The first stop was a temple near the Kalmunai hospital where Abilass was held under police protection after the couple tried to snatch him on Feb. 2 after the judge had ordered the DNA test.
Police moved to restore order in the court premises as photographers scrambled to grab vantage points to capture the emotional reunion.
Yesterday’s court appearance ended a drama that drew international attention after reports that nine mothers who lost children in the tsunamis were claiming Abilass as their own. The reports were later dismissed.
Nationwide, 995 children lost both parents in the disaster while another 3,409 lost at least one, according to figures from the Commissioner of Probation and Child Care, Sarath Abeygunawardena.
Abilass, who has become a symbol of tsunami survivors, was to be taken to a relatives’ home where the family is living.
Murugpillai, a barber, vowed that he would raise his son as a normal child and not give him special treatment — even though he did indeed believe the boy is special.“I do not want this hype and publicity to continue forever in his life and I will see to it that he is raised like any other normal child.”
He said he would not celebrate at his relatives’ home, where he and his wife have been staying since their house was destroyed by the waves. “We are very happy, but at the same time feel sad that a lot of people were killed on that day,” he said.
