Keeping in mind wellbeing of the one-and-a-half year old child, Bombay high court granted temporary custody of the toddler to a childless couple that had bought him for Rs 1.90 lakh from a children’s
Keeping in mind wellbeing of the one-and-a-half year old child, Bombay high court granted temporary custody of the toddler to a childless couple that had bought him for Rs 1.90 lakh from a children’s home in Nanded.
Temporary custody was granted to the couple in order to complete formalities to adopt the child as his biological mother is not ready to take his custody. A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Amjad Sayed passed the order while hearing a petition filed by the couple seeking to quash a FIR registered against them by Tardeo police under section 370 (1) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for purchasing the child illegally from a children’s home.
The couple was granted custody of the child for nine months during which time, they are supposed to initiate proceedings either to appoint themselves as official guardians of the child or adopt him. The court noted that the couple took the child when he was just a few days old and took good care of him while he was in their custody.
The court order came after the couple’s lawyer informed the bench that they were childless since their marriage a decade ago, and were looking to adopt a child. In 2014, one of their friends informed them that they could adopt a child from the Sunita Gutti Children’s Home in Nanded and gave them the contact number of a woman working there. Thereafter, the couple went there in June 2014 and were told they could adopt a child after paying Rs 1.90 lakh. They agreed and upon paying the amount, were given a ten-day-old male child by the woman.
However, in December 2015, Tardeo police received information that the couple had illegally purchased a child without requisite adoption formalities and hence, registered a complaint against them and the child was taken from their custody and kept at Asha Sadan orphanage.
On Wednesday, the court was informed that the police had traced the child’s biological mother but due to various reasons, she did not want to take the child and hence, the court directed that the child be handed over to the couple on a temporary basis for nine months during which time, the couple would have to initiate proceedings to either appoint themselves as official guardians of the child or adopt him.
