Bombay HC tweaks order, lets Hyderabad couple see adoptive baby 3 hours daily

MUMBAI: Bombay high court on Thursday allowed a couple from Hyderabad to meet their 7-month-old adoptive child, who was allegedly trafficked, at a children’s home in Mahalaxmi three hours daily for six days a week. 

Vacation bench of Justices Sandeep Marne and Neela Gokhale modified their order, passed on Tuesday, that had allowed them visitation rights for 12 hours daily. 

“Accordingly it is directed that petitioners shall have the right to visit the child between 3 pm and 6 pm every day from Mon to Sat,” they added. 

The couple had filed a habeas corpus petition to direct the Child Welfare Committee to produce the child and hand over her custody to them. Their petition said that since their marriage in 2015, the wife had three miscarriages. Her aunt introduced them to a couple from Visakhapatnam who wanted to give the fifth child up for adoption. 

On Sept 23, both parties executed a deed of adoption and the seven-day-old baby was brought home. Since then the couple has taken care of her. On April 29 a team from Mumbai Crime Branch–Unit II “forcibly” took the baby away. They informed that the aunt was arrested in an FIR registered at Vikhroli police station for trafficking. 

On Tuesday, the judges refused to hand over the child’s custody to the couple, noting that police are yet to trace her biological parents. 

By way of interim arrangement, they allowed them to meet her at Bal Asha Trust between 8 am and 8 pm daily till the next hearing on Jun 11. On Thu the trust’s advocate Ankita Singhania urged high court to modify the May 14 order and restrict the petitioners’ visits to an hour once a week. She said the home has 47 children between a few days to 12 months of age. Permitting them to visit 12 hours daily would not just cause logistic difficulties but also hamper the child’s activities, including feeding and sleep. 

“It will cause the child immense psychological trauma if they are allowed to meet her and if later the biological mother returns,” Singhania added. 

The judges reminded the trust that it is “just a care-taking agency” with an “extremely limited” role”. “You can insist on logistic difficulties. It is a contest between the state and (adoptive) parents,” said Justice Marne.

The judges said the couple are staying in Mumbai only for the child. The couple’s advocates, Arshil Shah and Saurabh Mehta, opposed modification of the timings, saying, “It will be completely distancing the child from them.” Considering both submissions, the judges modified the visit timings.