Calcutta HC Dismisses Swiss Citizen’s Plea Against Adoption Firm

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday held that the right to privacy of birth parents overrides the right to search for one’s roots, dismissing the plea of a Swiss citizen against an adoption agency.

Adopted from India by Swiss parents in 1988, the petitioner raised the plea alleging non-cooperation from Specialized Adoption Agency — from where he was adopted — when he sought details of his biological parents.

The single bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya held that although the right to know one’s roots is enshrined in the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, “however...the rights of privacy and protection of identity of biological parents of adoptee are more fundamental and basic insofar as the said right protects the very survival of the biological parents. It is all the more so when an unwed mother surrenders her child due to extreme social pressures,” observed the Court, concluding that the right to confidentiality of the unwed biological mother has primacy over the right of the adoptee.

The petitioner’s mother was unmarried during his adoption in 1988. The court noted that Regulation 47(6) of the Adoption Regulations of 2022 stipulates that the right to privacy of biological parents shall not be infringed by the right of the adopted child. The regulations provide for confidentiality in respect to all the documents regarding the biological parents unless the said parent has expressed the willingness to divulge information.