Judge's Order No. 86 of 2016 and Judge's Order No. 87 of 2016 in Foreign Adoption Petition No. 31 of 2016. Case: Children of the World (India) Trust Vs Children of the World (India) Trust. High Court of Bombay (India)

Case NumberJudge's Order No. 86 of 2016 and Judge's Order No. 87 of 2016 in Foreign Adoption Petition No. 31 of 2016
CounselFor Appellant: Rakesh Kapoor, Adv. and For Respondents: O. Hareendran, Scrutiny Officer
JudgesG. S. Patel, J.
IssueJuvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 [Repealed] - Section 56
Judgement DateApril 27, 2016
CourtHigh Court of Bombay (India)

Judgment:

G. S. Patel, J.

  1. The Petitioners are two United State citizens. The adoptive father is 54 years of age, and the adoptive mother is 50.

  2. This Petition is unusual in many respects. First, it is in respect of not one but two minors: Vaibhav, born on 3rd December 2007, and Shrutika, born on 6th January 2009. This means that Vaibhav is today nine years old and Shrutika is about seven years old. They were found abandoned on 31st December 2012 by the Central Police Station, Ulhasnagar. This means that at the time of their abandonment Vaibhav was already five years old and Shrutika was three years old. They were taken to the Child Welfare Committee, Thane and custody was given to Shejar Chhaya, Vasai by an order dated 31st December 2012. The Child Welfare Committee then declared them free for adoption. An Inter Country adoption Foreign Adoption Petition No. 60 of 2013 was filed. Those proposed adoptive parents were of Indian origin from Canada. They were not the proposed adoptive parents who are before me today.

  3. While that Foreign Adoption Petition was yet pending, the birth mother approached the Child Welfare Committee and asked for return of the custody of both children. The Child Welfare Committee then quite correctly requested this Court to keep the pending foreign adoption on hold until the claim was verified. In the meantime on 10th February 2014, the children were transferred to the present institution, the Children of the World India Trust. This was under an order of the Child Welfare Committed dated 10th February 2014 passed under Section 56 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 as amended in 2006.

  4. It appears from the record that while hearing the Petition, the birth mother appeared before this Court (Mrs. R.S. Dalvi J). DNA Testing was ordered and was carried out. There is on record an order dated 12th November 2014. This is an elaborate and detailed order in which Mrs. Dalvi J. considered all aspects of the matter including the schooling of the children. The ICSW inter alia was required to make a home visit report of the birth mother. Rather than hand over custody to the birth mother directly, the Court made a cautious and conditional order of custody, requiring the birth mother to show some improvement in her maternal behaviour before the children could be released to her. Paragraph 3 of that order read as follows:-

    "3. Upon the query of the Court she has not stated to Court also why she did not even visit the children she claims custody of. Nevertheless as she is a biological mother of the two children, the Court deems it fit to allow her to take custody of the children but subject to certain safeguards. The biological mother must show improvement in her maternal behaviour to the children before the children can be released to her."

  5. The pending proposal for foreign adoption was not allowed.

  6. This followed by an order about five months later on 22nd April 2015. This time, Mrs. Dalvi, J., noted that the birth mother who had been permitted to take custody of the children on certain conditions, had not availed of her right to do so. The...

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