HC rules against ‘adoptive’ couple, says natural parents most ‘fit’ to raise child

Cuttack: Dealing with the case of a mother who had allegedly given away her child to a couple but now wants it back, the

Orissa high court has said biological parents are the most fit to raise a child and ordered the handing over of the three-year-old

girl to the birth mother within a week.

“In our land, parents hold a preferred position for children below five years. For that, there is a presumption that the parents are

the most fit and proper person to raise the child,” a bench of justice S K Mishra and justice A K Mishra said in its August 19

order, a copy of which was made available on Friday

The biological mother had filed a habeas corpus petition in March 2017 seeking custody of her daughter — then less than one

year old and now three — from the couple who raised her. The couple and the biological mother have given conflicting and

contradictory reasons on how the baby ended up with the former.

The natural mother has alleged that her eight-month-old baby had been stolen. She alleged she later found out that the child

had been sold for Rs 20,000 and lodged a complaint with Athagarh police station. She further said police did not pay heed to

her complaint and forced her to move court.

The police and the couple countered the woman, in their affidavits, saying she had given the baby to the driver of the

ambulance in which she had returned home after giving birth to the child in a hospital in July 2016. She asked the driver — a

relative of the couple — to hand over the baby, her fourth daughter, to someone or to place her in an orphanage.

“Considering the age and the consistent efforts of the natural mother to regain custody of her girl child, we feel it appropriate

and justified that the natural mother – the petitioner — shall be the custodian of the girl child and it would be in the best interest of the child,” the high court said.

The couple, on the other hand, pleaded that they had not only adopted the child but provided all sorts of comfort to it.

“As the taking away of the child from the couple and its handing over to the petitioner might cause some problems, the couple

who raised her will be given access to the child during the day for three months in the residence of the petitioner,” the bench

added.

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