HC says ‘no’ to parents who want abandoned child

“If she does not wish to go along with them, do not force her to go”

The Madras High Court Bench here on Tuesday came across a distressing case of a 14-year-old Usilampatti girl who was abandoned by her father within eight days of her birth, grew up in an unauthorised child care home and now unwilling to go with her parents despite their willingness to take them back.

Coming down heavily on the parents for laying a claim over the girl, now lodged in a Government Children’s Home at Kellys in Chennai and studying in class IX, Justices S. Nagamuthu and M.V. Muralidaran ordered that they could not be given custody if the child was unwilling to live with them.

The order was passed on a habeas corpus petition filed by a woman claiming to be the child’s mother. The petitioner had claimed that the girl recently rescued from an unauthorised child care home in the district and sent to a government home in Chennai was her daughter. She stated that her husband was disgusted with her for having given birth to a second girl child and he had taken the eight-day-old baby and handed her over to a Vijaya Christy who brought her up until 2007 before handing her over to the unregistered child care home.

It was only after the District Child Welfare Committee recently came to know of the child care home being run without any authorisation that the 14-year-old girl as well as other inmates were rescued and shifted to various authorised homes for children.

The petitioner’s daughter was sent to the government home in Chennai.

After submitting these facts before the court, Omprakash Meena, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Oomachikulam, appointed by the court to probe the issue, told the judges that an Inspector deputed by him to meet the girl in Chennai reported back that she was unwilling to go with the petitioner and her husband even if they happened to be her parents.

Recording the submissions made by the ASP and appreciating him for enquiring into the issue quickly, the judges ordered a DNA test to conclusively establish the parentage of the girl child. Thereafter, the District Child Welfare Committee was ordered to pass appropriate orders on the petitioner’s claim after giving due weightage to the child’s wish.

“If the child does not wish to go along with these people, then you do not force her to go with them. It is better that she stays away from them... ,” Mr. Justice Nagamuthu told the chairman of CWC.