HC allows NRI couple to adopt second girl child from Belagavi

BELAGAVI: In an order with wide repercussions for adoption in India, the Dharwad bench of the high court has set aside a district court ruling and allowed an NRI couple in the US to adopt a second girl child from Belagavi. Under the laws governing adoption in India, a single parent or married couple are not permitted to adopt more than one child of the same sex.The NRI couple had adopted a girl earlier and were keen to take home another - a baby girl found in a dustbin in 2014. The court order, issued last week, is being hailed in most circles but critics argue it is unfair to allow one family to adopt more than one child when there is a long list of families waiting for years together to adopt.

Justice Shrinivas Harish Kumar allowed the US-based Indian couple - engineer C Verghese and his wife Dr Alia, a speech therapist - to adopt a second girl child, ruling that they were capable of raising her. The Belagavi district court had rejected the couple's petition in March on grounds of probable discrimination against the first girl child.The couple challenged the order in the high court. Following the HC circuit bench order, the couple can now take home the three-year-old girl found in a dustbin on April 5, 2014 in Bailhongal town. The girl, six years old now, is being looked after at Gangamma Chikkumbimath Bal Kendra, an orphanage run by the Swami Vivekanand Pratisthan. Advocate SV Ganachari said the guidelines of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), a statutory body of the Union ministry of women and child development, allow a family to adopt up to four children depending on their socio-economic condition."We have convinced the court that the petitioner is an intending adoptive parent and they have the capacity to take care of more than one child," he said.

An official said the judgment might upset parents who have been waiting for years. He said priority would be given to those looking to adopt their first child. Before CARA came into being in 2015, the norm was to give only one child for adoption to one family. If the family already had a child, then a child of the opposite sex could be adopted.

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