Plaint against fake social media post on adoption

Kolkata: Cops at Bowbazar police station have registered an

FIR against fake adoption posts on under

the stringent IT Act, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of

Children) Act and the Disaster Management Act. A special

team has been formed to probe the case.

According to the complaint, a Phears Lane resident had

allegedly posted misleading and fake content and did not

follow the prescribed provisions or procedures as provided in

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act for

of orphan children. Cops said that the contents were

in violation of Section 2 (13) of the Adoption Regulation, 2017

that compromised the “privacy of the surrendering parents

and the surrendered child by the authorities and agencies

involved in the process.”

The child mentioned in the post was not an orphan and hence

posting about the child was a direct infringement on the

rights of both the parents and the child. Cops have invoked six

sections of three different acts in this regard.

Cops said they are planning to send a notice to the accused

and seek an explanation. The offending post has been deleted

by the accused. It will be part of the larger probe launched into

social media posts appealing for adoption of kids orphaned

during Covid, some of whose origins have been traced to be

outside the state. The probe was ordered by joint CP (crime)

Murlidhar Sharma after a Twitter user lodged a complaint

West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights

chairperson Ananya Chakraborti said most of the news on

orphans doing the rounds on social media were fake. She

warned that any attempt to adopt a child without following

the due process is a criminal offence

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