2-yr-old adopted ‘in exchange for money’, couple denied custody in Mumbai

Mumbai: Bombay high court on Thursday rejected a couple’s petition to restore to them custody of their adopted 2-year-old

daughter from the state’s child welfare committee’s (CWC) custody. The HC rejected the couple’s contention that the toddler

was taken away illegally and said it was in the “best interest of the child” that she continue to be in custody of CWC which has

placed in care of a trust that runs an adoption agency.

The childless couple said they had adopted a newborn from a single woman under provision of Hindu Adoption and

Maintenance Act through a notarised adoption deed on January 22, 2019 and also performed the child handing and naming

ceremonies. That June, the CWC filed a criminal case against them and “immediately took” the child from their legal custody,

they alleged. An application filed by the adoptive father for access and custody was rejected by CWC in January 2020 while

another one filed by the biological mother was rejected in October that year. The CWC said the adoption deed was illegal and

not registered.

A bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale held that there was no indication that the child was adopted under provisions

of Hindu Adoption Act. The HC said that though the biological mother says the couple gave her Rs 20,000 for medical

expense, “material on record indicates child was given away to the petitioners in exchange of money”. Thus, the HC said, CWC

was “indeed justified” to take action under the Juvenile Justice Act which requires it to look after children in need of care.

The couple, represented by senior counsel Raja Thakare, said the adoption was valid, the mother had willingly given up her

child to them for adoption. Thakare said once there was a valid adoption under the Hindu law, provisions of Juvenile Justice

(Care & Protection of Children) Act would not apply and CWC could not have stepped in.

CWC’s counsel Karansingh Rajput argued that Childline, an NGO, had informed the panel on January 17 that the biological

mother wanted to give the child for adoption or in some ashram. The NGO said there was a “possibility of the child being sold

by the mother”. The CWC then had directed the NGO to supervise the mother.

The biological mother, who worked as a domestic help, said she had entered into the adoption deed and before the HC

supported the couple’s claim saying they had even helped her financially during childbirth for treatment and groceries. She had

told the CWC that she had received Rs 40,000 from the couple and given the child.

The couple had approached the HC later with a habeas corpus petition for CWC to be directed to produce the child. The HC

said, “Nothing is sought to be placed on record to indicate that requirements of Hindu Adoption Act pertaining to a valid

adoption were complied with in letter and spirit.” It said only after the FIR was filed against the adoptive father that they took

such a stand, for the first time before the court

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