PESHAWAR, Jan 17: A much-publicised custody row between two couples ended on Wednesday when the district and sessions judge ordered that the baby involved be handed over to the couple who had adopted him. The court decision followed a DNA test which proved that the baby in question was not the one who was kidnapped from a local hospital.

The controversy between the couples had surfaced in November when police raided a house in Muslim Town and took into custody an infant, claiming that he was the one who had been kidnapped from the Lady Reading Hospital five months ago.

Parents of the kidnapped boy also claimed that the recovered child was their lost son. However, Enayatur Rehman, from whose residence the boy was recovered, said they had adopted him after he was left by an Afghan couple at the entrance of their house.

To end the controversy, Peshawar district and sessions judge Syed Mussadiq Hussain Gillani ordered to conduct the DNA test of the child to prove his parenthood. This was the first case wherein the DNA test was conducted here.

The court was informed on Wednesday by the investigating officer that they had received the DNA result from an institute in Lahore saying the infant was not the boy kidnapped from the LRH.

The court observed that the DNA test had proved that the infant was not the missing child and he was not the son of one of the claimant, Israr Khan.

The court ordered the investigation officer of the Kabuli police station, inspector Saleem Riaz, in whose house the infant had been kept since November on court’s order, to hand over the child to Enayatur Rehman.

After the court order, Mr Rehman told Dawn that they knew that the claim of the opponent couple was wrong. He added that they had taken care of the child like their own son because he had been left at their home and was a gift from Almighty Allah.

Initially, the infant was kept at the women’s police station after he was taken into custody by police on Nov 22.

The health of the child started deteriorating due to which the court ordered that he should be kept at the house of inspector Saleem Riaz.

Ms Naveeda, who claimed to be the mother of the child, and Ms Aimon, who adopted the child, continued to stay with the child at the inspector’s home. Ms Naveeda had given birth to a boy on June 23 in Shabqadar who was later admitted to the nursery of the Lady Reading Hospital due to bad health. The infant disappeared from the nursery on June 28.