After being accused and jailed on September 7, 2018 because of alleged child abuse on their 6-month old daughter, Indian-origin couple, Prakash Settu and Mala Paneerselvam, was finally granted their bail on September 13, 2018, that is Thursday.
Their arrest, which was conducted last Friday on the 07th of September, was even done so weeks after they took their daughter to a hospital located in the Broward County in Florida because of her swollen left arm. The six-month old allegedly abused child, Himisha, has a twin brother, both of whom are under the Child Protective Services in Florida for the time being.
Upon rushing their daughter to the hospital, the couple from Tamil Nadu were told that their daughter have to undergo expensive treatments and tests to which they raised questions in protest. When the couple attempted to take the child home against doctor’s orders, that’s when the authorities booked them for child neglect and abuse under the rightful law.
After their arrest in a prison located in Fort Lauderdale, the initial bail amount was set at $200,000 which was then finally reduced down to $30,000, stated a relative of the couple to NDTV. They were finally released on Thursday (13th of September) after paying the outstanding bail amount.
Friends and family of the accused couple are in a stance of fighting back against the US Government, claiming all the accusations are nothing but forged and completely untrue.
The six-month old’s grandmother, Malika (Ms Paneerselvam’s mother) stated to NDTV saying, “Separating newborn twins from biological parents is a sin. Let them hand over them to me, as a grandmother. I’d take care of them.”
Further justifying the Indian couple’s enquiries about the treatment of their daughter, a close friend of the couple stated saying, “Their insurance did not cover all of them. This was misconstrued as neglect.” According to the source, the couple has been inquisitive throughout the entire process of the treatment because they couldn’t afford the expensive treatments and the insurance didn’t cover it all.
From the perspective of the hospital authorities, the report from the Florida Health Children’s Medical Services, Broward County clearly stated that the couple was apprehensive about the “skeletal survey” that the hospital was trying to conduct on the infant. According to them, the couple even insisted on taking the baby home against doctor’s supervision which is when they decided to summon the Child Protective Services into the scene.
The Ministry of External Affairs of India is in close knit with the US Administrative Services to get updates and thorough details about this alleged child abuse case. There is not much detail concerning this issue from the US Consulate as they are not affiliated to disclose details about the “individual cases of investigation”.
By Somapika Dutta
