HC cancels ‘forcible’ adoption of boy, gives custody to mother

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has made it clear that a child who is being taken to a far off country by way of adoption needs to be protected and added that background checks by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) and its equivalent authority in the foreign country are imperative in the case of an inter-country adoption.

Deciding the ongoing battle over adoption of a minor boy to a couple based in the United States under “pressure” of his grandparents after his father’s death, the Punjab and Haryana high court directed the adoptive parents to hand over the custody of the child to his natural mother.

The high court held that the adoption deed shown to be executed on December 3, 2019 is a highly suspicious document as regards its authenticity and secondly, the intention to give the child for adoption was at a time when the petitioner could not be said to be in a stable mental state due to the recent death of her husband.

As the child remained with the adoptive couple, the high court observed that the couple must have been attached with the child, thus it would be appropriate in the interest of the child if the adoptive mother hands over the child by first familiarising him with his natural mother. The process has been ordered to be completed over a period of two weeks

The matter had reached the high court in January this year after a Chandigarh-based woman (name withheld to protect identity) filed a habeas corpus petition alleging that her minor son had been forcibly taken away from her custody through “forceful” adoption by her in-laws after her husband’s death. She said her father in law and mother in law had called her to Patiala in September 2019 and forced her to sign some documents after which her son was given in adoption to the USA-based couple. She approached the HC after the Chandigarh police failed to take any action on her complaint.

She also claimed that her son’s adoption was illegal because the adoption ceremony had taken place in the absence of adoptive parents and the child was taken away from her by the relatives of the adoptive parents, not the adoptive parents themselves.

During the hearing of the case, advocate Anil Malhotra, who was assisting the high court as amicus curiae, had submitted a report alleging that adoption of child is illegal and void and in complete contravention of the provisions mentioned in the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA). Malhotra had also submitted that no giving and taking ceremony took place between the natural mother and adoptive parents, which is also against the statutory provisions. He also submitted that since the adoption is void, the custody of the child should be restored to the mother.

Hearing all the parties, the HC has ordered that the child be restored to the mother.

The high court also observed that the inter country adoptions are one category of adoptions that must adhere to the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and the adoption regulations framed thereunder, with CARA being the authority that is required to go into the question of the appropriateness of any couple/person living abroad, to adopt a child from India.

The high court was of the view that the need for protection of children being taken to a foreign country becomes all the more necessary due to too many unfortunate cases of child abuse — sexual, or for the purpose of labouring in houses, in the past.

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