MADURAI: The Madras High Court has come to the rescue of an inter-religious Indian Canadian couple whose application for adopting the only daughter born to the sister of the female spouse was rejected by Kancheepuram Principal District Court at Chengalpet on February 24 on the ground that the sisters were Muslims and hence excluded from the purview of Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956.
Allowing a revision petition filed by the couple along with the biological father of the girl, Justice M. Duraiswamy pointed out that the adoption application had been filed under Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 too which was replaced with Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 that came into force on January 15 this year and permitted adoption of a child between relatives, irrespective of their religion.
The judge agreed with amicus curiae A. Muthukumar that the couple were eligible to take the girl on adoption under Sections 56, 57, 60 and 61 of the new Act which states that all inter-country adoptions should be done only as per its provisions and the regulations framed by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). It also permits biological parents to transfer the care and custody of a child to a person in a foreign country with a valid court order.
The new Act requires a relative living abroad, who intends to adopt a child from his relative in India, to obtain an order from the court besides applying for no objection certificate from CARA which, in turn, is empowered to issue the certificate under intimation to the immigration authority of India and receiving country of the child. It also states that courts should issue adoption orders considering the welfare of the child and after due consideration to his/her wishes.
In so far as the present case was concerned, all those conditions were fulfilled since the girl, who was a minor at the time of filing of adoption application last year but had completed 18 years of age on January 19 this year, appeared before the High Court early this month and expressed her willingness to be adopted. The girl’s biological mother was no more and her biological father had given his consent to give away his only child on adoption to his issueless relatives in Canada.
On the other issue of the Canadian couple not having appeared in person before the lower court was concerned, Mr. Justice Duraiswamy said that there was no necessity for that when they had been represented by their Power of Attorney Agent who was none other than the girl’s maternal grandmother. “The power agent is not a third party. She is one of the family members of the petitioners. Hence, the dismissal of the petition by the trial court on that ground also is liable to be set aside,” he said.
“In a case of adoption, the main issue that has to be taken into consideration is the issue with regard to the welfare of the child. In the case on hand, the petitioners and also the adoptive daughter have established that the adoptive parents will take care of her welfare in a good manner. In these circumstances, the order passed by the Principal District Court is set aside. Consequently, the original petition in adoption stands allowed,” the judge concluded.
Ends
