HC dismisses Swedish national's plea against Ashram

HC dismisses Swedish national’s plea against ashram 

Express news service
The Bombay High Court on Monday disposed of a petition filed by Swedish national Rebecka Saudamini Arnes, who was adopted from India in 1977, seeking action against Shraddhanand Mahilashram in Matunga where she was adopted from.Justices A M Khanwilkar and A R Joshi directed Arnes to file a private complaint before a magistrate if she wished to pursue her case against the adoption centre.After a four-year long search for her mother, Arnes moved the Bombay High Court in August, 2011 with a petition filed through her lawyer Pradeep Havnur. In the petition filed jointly with her adoptive mother Eva Lindgren (60), Arnes had sought a court direction to the police to take action against Shraddhanand Mahilashram for not disclosing information about her biological mother.Additional public prosecutor Aruna Kamat-Pai told the court that it had already directed Arnes to file a private complaint in the case inApril.Earlier, the court had also asked the state government to seek information from authorities at the missing persons bureau regarding Arnes’s biological mother, who is believed to have surrendered her as a two-day-old baby at the Shraddhanand Mahilasharam.However, observing that the main prayer made by Arnes —the complaint against Shraddhanand Mahilashram—had been dealt with, the court disposed of the petition. Annexed to Arnes’s petition in the HC, was an email exchange between her and Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, who runs the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation in Mumbai. Arnes had contended that her adoption was facilitated by Gandhi’s parents Arun and Sunanda, who at the time helped a number of Swedish couples to adopt Indian children. However, as Gandhi still lives in Mumbai, Arnes had sought his help to trace her roots. Gandhi, however, had sent sharply-worded replies to her emails.