Sushma for probe into dead Indian American child’s adoption process

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NEW DELHI – External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday sought a thorough probe into adoption process of the three-year-old Indian American girl Sherin Mathews who has died in Texas.

Sushma Swaraj tweeted that she has requested Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi “for a thorough investigation into the adoption process of Baby Saraswati Sherin Mathews who has been killed by her foster father Wesley Mathews in the US.”

She also said that she has asked Anupam Roy, Consul General of India in Houston, to ensure that the murder of Sherin was taken to a logical conclusion.

Police in Texas charged Wesley Mathews after he admitted that the child choked while he was making her drink milk and died in their home in Texas, according to court documents.

He had earlier told police that Sherin disappeared when he made her stand in a lane behind their house in Richardson city at 3 a.m. on October 7 as punishment for not drinking milk.

After nearly two weeks of searching by police using drones, her body was found on Sunday in a ditch near their house in the city near Dallas. While the search was going on, Mathews stuck to the story about Sherin’s punishment and mysterious disappearance.

Mathews, who was arrested on Monday, was charged with causing injury to a child which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

He was being held in jail with bail set at $1 million. Mathews, 37, who works in IT, is of Indian origin. He and his wife Sini, a nurse, had adopted Sherin from an orphanage in Bihar.

According to court documents, on Monday Mathews came to the police with his lawyer and said that he “physically assisted” Sherin with drinking milk in the garage of their house after she had earlier refused to drink it.

The child began coughing and choking, her breathing slowed and then there was no longer any pulse, he told police.

In separate tweets, Sushma Swaraj also said that in view of the Sherin Mathews case, “we have taken a decision that passports for adopted children will be issued only with prior clearance by Ministry of Child Development in all cases.”