Mumbai couple moves HC to get ‘adopted’ baby from CWC
Mumbai: A city couple on Friday alleged the child welfare committee (CWC) took away their “adopted” infant and kept her in
“illegal detention”. They have sought orders to be reunited with the baby, now aged two.
The childless couple said they had adopted a newborn from a single woman under provisions of Hindu Adoption and
Maintenance Act (HAMA) through an adoption deed in January 2019. That June, CWC filed a criminal case against them and
“immediately took” the child from their legal custody, they alleged. Currently, the child is being looked after by a trust that runs
a “specialised adoption agency”, said their petition.
CWC is a statutory body set up under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection ) Act as an authority to deal with children in
care of protection. The petition alleged CWC has acted “arbitrarily” and “high-handedly” out of “mere ignorance of law” six
months after the child was “adopted”. Parting the child has deprived her of her fundamental right to life as well as “love and
affection of the adoptive parents,’’ said the couple.
The couple filed a habeas corpus petition (to seek production of somebody from illegal detention or custody) through advocate
Siddharth Jagushte and senior counsel Raja Thakare. The advocates mentioned it before a Bombay high court bench of
Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale at a virtual hearing on Friday. The biological mother, represented by advocate Tusshar
Nirbhavane, used to work as a domestic help and had entered into the ‘adoption deed’’, is the contention. The couple said they
performed a handing over ceremony for the child.
Thakare said two important legal questions are involved, including whether adoption under HAMA can be “trifled with’’ when JJ
Act recognises it and if Section 80 can be invoked when a valid adoption deed exists.
The bench issued a notice to CWC, Mumbai suburban district, and posted the matter to February 5 for detailed hearing.
24/01/2021 Couple moves HC to get ‘adopted’ baby from CWC - Times of India
The couple sought custody and also interim orders for daily access to the two-year-old.
The petition says applications filed by both the “adoptive father” and the biological mother for access and custody were
rejected by CWC, thus the child spent the pandemic in a centre.
In June 2019, CWC had registered a criminal case at Amboli police station under Section 80 of JJ Act. It alleged failure to follow
a proper adoption procedure under the Act and that the couple offered Rs 20,000 to the mother for medical expenses. The
petitioners said the mother who also had a “medical history’’ suggested they who had cared and financially assisted with
childbirth may adopt the child. CWC, though, said the adoption deed is illegal and not registered. After the FIR, CWC took
custody of the child, said the petition.
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