The Bombay High Court Thursday came down heavily on the Maharashtra government for its stand that benefits like reservation extneded to orphaned children cannot be given to abandoned children [NEST India Foundation v. State of Maharashtra & Ors]

A division bench of Justices GS Patel and Neela Gokhale noted that the Juvenile Justice Act does not distinguish between a child who is abandoned and a child who is an orphan.

“We note the definition of orphans, interestingly, also includes children whose legal guardian is incapable of caring for the child. Point to be noted is that act itself does not distinguish between child who is adopted and child who is orphan” the order states.

The Court was hearing a petition filed by NEST India Foundation, a charitable trust, which sought issuance of certificate from the authorities to the girls declaring them as abandoned children.

Government pleader Purnima Kantharia informed the Court about a government resolution which does not permit certificate to be given to an abandoned child.

A Chinese man who was abducted as a toddler and later adopted by a billionaire family has been found by his birth family, whom he has chosen to return to.

Mei Zhiqiang, 27, was 2 years old when he was abducted by human traffickers from outside his home in Yunnan province in southwestern China in 1997.

Mei was reportedly sold to a family that abandoned him because he was “too thin and small” before he was adopted by a wealthy family reportedly worth billions in southeastern China’s Fujian province.

He subsequently grew up with two older sisters and a younger brother, who were all biological children of his adoptive parents.

Mei reportedly did not attend university after he graduated from secondary school, opting instead to work at his adoptive parents’ hospital.

In 1965, Sita Devi Sachdev (Dr Sita Bhateja’s maiden name) started a nursing home in her own name. In 1969, a charitable trust was established under the name of Dr (Mrs) Sita Bhateja Nursing Home. The hospital building and all the equipment were donated to the trust, as was 50% of Dr Sita Bhateja’s income. The charitable wing of the trust was christened Sri Jetha Nand Hospital for the Poor, in memory of Dr Sita Bhateja’s father-in-law, who along with his wife, donated money to help establish the hospital.Thus, our hospital came to be. Over the next two decades, spearheaded by Dr Sita Bhateja, the nursing home established a formidable reputation for expertise in the field of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (her chosen field).

It was in our 38th year that Sita Bhateja Hospital entered a new and exciting phase with its expansion into specialities other than OB/GYN. Spearheaded by Dr Arvind Bhateja, an accomplished neurosurgeon (and Dr Sita Bhateja’s son), we have expanded into the specialities of neuro and spine surgery, orthopaedics, intensive care, internal medicine, urology, plastic surgery and maxillofacial surgery.

The surgical specialities are housed in a new operation theatre complex of world standards with state-of-the-art features like seamless interiors, hermetically sealed doors and windows and laminar air flow. We have the technology to perform minimally invasive brain and spine surgery through keyhole approaches. Our Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is fully equipped for the proper post-operative care of patients and for patients with head injuries and critical illnesses. Our new Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Department has been designed and built with a view to the holistic recovery of a patient.

All this world-class infrastructure is manned by a team of experts who are highly skilled in their specialities and who have been weaned on Dr Sita Bhateja’s philosophy of empathetic healthcare for every patient.

In just under eight years, led by Dr Arvind Bhateja, we have completed well over three thousand successful procedures and have acquired a sterling reputation for medical excellence in our specialities.

A shocking report compiled by two historians questions the 'systemic' nature of the irregularities that have persisted in some 20 countries for over 30 years.

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We learn from the press (Le Monde 10/02/23) the delivery of a report written by two academics, Yves Denéchère and Fábio Macedo, at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "Historical study on illicit practices in the international adoption in France”.

According to the article, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs covered for almost thirty years the facts denounced to the mission of international adoption (MAI) by the French consular services abroad relating that about fifteen organizations authorized to Adoption (AIO) have arranged fraudulent adoptions under our laws and international commitments, including the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, the Convention on the Rights of the child, and the protocol to that convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

It is about kidnappings, making false orphans, forced abandonment of newborns, affecting many countries, such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Brazil, Guatemala, Madagascar…, with the key, the organization of a “real market” generating considerable sums.

While one might think that after the scandal of "L'Arche de Zoé" in 2007, revealing child abductions in Chad and Sudan had awakened consciences, while the abduction and forced adoptions of Ukrainian children by Russian families is currently being examined by the International Criminal Court (ICC), France cannot do without an introspection on illicit practices which would have been covered up by public authorities.

Also, DCI-France calls for the immediate constitution of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the facts denounced by the report of the academics and that this one hears the public officials like those of the associations implicated and, also, the associations defending the rights of the child who have long denounced the "market" of international adoption.

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KOCHI: In a significant development in the birth certificate forgery case, the police team has identified a person who has played a key role in facilitating the illegal adoption of the child. The Special Investigation Team, under Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Baby P V, is now trying to trace the facilitator who could throw more light on the case.

“According to the statement given by Anoop’s brother, who reported before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) with the child, there is a middleman who played a role in facilitating the illegal handover of the child. The facilitator and the biological parents of the child are from the same music ensemble,” said Circle Inspector Santhosh of Kalamasserry police station.

“The police are collecting more information like documents, reports, and CCTV footage from the Medical College Hospital,” he added. However, the biological parents, the middle man, and the Tripunithura couple who were raising the child are absconding.

“Anilkumar and others who are involved in this case are still absconding. We are trying to trace them. Meanwhile, the absconding couple from Tripunithura has approached the court for bail,” said ACP Baby P V.

Meanwhile, the chairperson of the child welfare committee(CWC) K K Shaju said, “The health department and CWC are investigating the case. The District Child Protection Office will advertise in newspapers requesting the parents or relatives of the child to appear before CWC and we will go ahead with further legal actions later.”

The association, one of the largest French organizations for the adoption of children internationally, had its authorizations withdrawn in December 2022. For several years, its probity had been called into question.

The news is "a beginning of relief" , after years spent alerting public opinion to the alleged excesses operated by the French adoption organization Rayon de soleil de l'enfant etranger (RDSEE) in several countries. At the end of January, Marie Marre, founder of the collective of French Adoptees from Mali and herself adopted through RDSEE in Bamako, discovers what she has been calling for since her discovery, in 2018, of many areas of he shadow surrounding its adoption: the Quai d'Orsay has repealed all of the authorizations issued to the organization.

Rayon de soleil, which could until now still carry out adoptions in five countries (Bulgaria, Chile, China, South Korea and India) on behalf of French couples, is now prohibited from acting as an intermediary. The ministerial decree confirming this , dated December 21, 2022, had gone under the radar. The reasons for this global arrest – a rare sanction – are not specified.

"The ministry, in taking this decision, considered that the repeated attacks against RDSEE in certain media did not allow the OAA [authorized adoption body] to fully carry out its mission" , specified, for its part, the association on its website. On November 23, 2022, Le Monde published the results of five years of investigation into alleged irregular adoptions carried out by this association, one of the largest French organizations responsible for the adoption of more than 7,000 children across the country. world since the late 1970s.

In Mali but also in the Central African Republic, Madagascar, Haiti, Peru and Romania, multiple sources ranging from the diplomatic archives of the State to French adoptees, biological parents and adoptive parents, including former officials of the association, questioned the probity of Rayon de soleil. All accused the association of having lied to adopt children who should not have been adopted. Contacted before the publication of the article, the Quai d'Orsay had then confirmed that there had "certainly been illicit practices" within the organization, before specifying that it now considered it as a " reliable interlocutor in the way he works today".

Adoption without parental consent, falsification of documents, payment for child abandonment. These are some of the irregularities found in a study of four decades of international adoptions by French people in different countries, including Brazil. The report, published this week, documents illegalities and crimes that occurred in the adoption process, in the registration of the child and in the removal from his country of origin.

The study was carried out by Yves Denéchère and Fabio Macedo, two historians from the University of Angers, and reveals the dark face of the increase in the number of international adoptions carried out by French people from 1979 onwards.

The researchers analyzed thousands of diplomatic files from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the subject and found reports of various illicit practices in the process of adopting children. The researchers studied documents up to 2021, which contained information about adoptions in dozens of countries.

“The most common problem is the lack of consent by the biological family. Be it lack of free and informed consent from the mother, or from the biological family”, explains Macedo.

In the period studied, the countries of origin with the highest number of children adopted by French people were Vietnam, Colombia, South Korea, Haiti and Brazil.

The police told the court that the custodial interrogation of both the accused was needed as a fresh complaint of organ trafficking was lodged against them by a Chandigarh-based woman.

The ongoing investigations by Mohali police into the alleged newborn stealing racket saw more skeletons tumbling out of the closet, with investigators on Tuesday stating that they were now studying the possible involvement of a Non-Government Organisation.

Investigators said that the role of some police officers posted at the Criminal Investigation Agency had also come under the scanner after they learnt that a Chandigarh-based woman had lodged a complaint with Mohali district police last year alerting them about the possibility of existence of such a racket. However, no action was taken.

The district police on January 30 had arrested Manjinder Singh, and his wife Parwinder Kaur — both residents of Faridkot — and Charanbir Singh, and his wife Sakshi, both residents of Patiala, for being part of a racket that was involved in stealing and selling newborns.

Police said that Parvinder Kaur alias Sakshi and her husband Charanbir Singh were produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Jagjeet Singh on Tuesday and were sent to two additional days of police remand.