No relief for vendor seeking probe against adoption authorities

Thu, Nov 5 06:11 AM

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday ruled that there was no case to be made against the adoption authorities in the alleged illegal cross-border adoption of Satara-based vegetable vendor's granddaughters.

Kisabai Lokhande (66), a vegetable vendor from Karad, had moved the court after her granddaughters went 'missing' from a children's remand home in Satara in 2004. It was later found that the girls had been adopted by a Spanish couple. Lokhande had sought a probe against the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), the Central Adoption Resource Centre (CARA), a Spanish NGO and Preet Mandir, a Pune-based private adoption agency, for executing the alleged illegal adoption.

The Division Bench of Justice Bilal Nazki and Justice A R Joshi observed that the adoption itself has not been challenged. The court held that since the petitioner surrendered the children and necessary formalities, there is no case for invoking any criminal action against the adoption authorities.

The court has granted her liberty to challenge the adoption and observed that her complaint to the police does not disclose any cognisable offence. Lokhande began looking after the children in 2004 when their father died and the mother disappeared.

However, she soon sent them to a remand home in Karad due to financial constraints. In August 2004, members of Preet Mandir had informed the committee about the possibility of the girls being given for adoption. The children were adopted by a Spanish couple after the committee observed that the grandmother cannot secure the future of the children .

The adoption agency informed the court that CARA is monitoring the development of the children even after their adoption and the foreign agents have also sent a post placement report which stated that the children were happy and bonded well with their adoptive parents.

It was stated that the children were treated for anemia and parasites when they landed in Spain and both of them were learning the language fast and were extroverts who mixed easily with the conditions there.

The petitioner complained that she was not given a chance to reconsider.

The authorities however pointed out that it was only after five years that the petitioner came forward with an ulterior motive.

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