The prospective adoptive parents of the infant of Anupama S. Chandran may have to return the baby to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Thiruvananthapuram, shortly even as the family court has put on hold the adoption procedures.
K. Biju Menon, presiding officer of the family court, who was expected to pass the final orders in the adoption procedure on Monday, stayed the proceedings considering the plea of the mother and the CWC. Anupama had come out in the open demanding her baby back. She contended that the child was put up for adoption against her will and her consent was obtained through illegal ways.
The prospective parents in adoption cases, according to judicial sources, have no right over the child as the court has not issued the final order on adoption. The baby was handed over to them in foster care for familiarising it with the atmosphere in the prospective adoptive home. The couple are bound to return the baby on a directive from either the court or the CWC, sources indicated.
The controversy over the adoption took a political colour as Anupama, a former Students Federation of India leader and the granddaughter of a former State committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), had approached several leaders in vain to get her baby back.
As the controversy raged, the CPI(M) and the Government pledged their support to the young mother.
She plans to move a petition to get a genetic identification test done on the prospective adoptive baby to confirm its identity as two babies, including her child, were given in adoption on the same day.
In her impleading petition, which was allowed by the court, Anupama submitted that her parents, who were having temporary custody of her child, surrendered the baby to the CWC without her permission, consent, and knowledge.
She further submitted that the CWC refused to return the baby on the ground that the adoption procedures had been set in motion. She also submitted to the court that a police complaint had been registered against her father for abducting her child.
The court posted the case for November 1.
