Sherin Mathews (Source: Facebook/ Richardson Police Department) Sherin Mathews (Source: Facebook/ Richardson Police Department)

Union Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj Friday took to Twitter to announce that passports for adopted children will henceforth be issued only with prior clearance by the Ministry of Child Development in all cases. The tweet said, “After Baby Saraswati @ 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.”

The stricter process for adoption followed after the death of Sherin Mathews. Sherin, who was adopted from India last year, was reported missing by her father on October 7. He told police that he had ordered her to stand near a tree outside of their home at about 3 a.m. as punishment for not drinking her milk, and that she was gone when he went to check on her about 15 minutes later. Authorities said he waited five hours to report her missing. The father then told the police that his daughter choked while drinking milk and he removed her body from the house as he ‘believed she had died’. Wesley Mathews, 37, was charged Monday afternoon with first-degree felony injury to a child, a crime punishable by up to life imprisonment.

Swaraj also tweeted asking Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi, to thoroughly investigate the adoption process of Sherin Mathews. “I have requested @Manekagandhibjp Minister for Women and Child Development for a thorough investigation into the adoption process of Baby Saraswati@SherinMathews who has been killed by her foster father Wesley Mathews in the United States.”

Baby Saraswati was adopted two years ago from an orphanage, Mother Teresa Anant Seva Sansthan, by Wesley Mathews and Sini Mathews, Indian-Americans working in Richardson, Texas. Originally from Kerala, the couple named her Sherin.

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