Illegal Adoption: Rajasthan HC Reunites Mother with Child, Orders Action Against Ex-CWC Member

Holding a former Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member guilty of misusing her position, the Rajasthan High Court recently ordered action against her for facilitating an illegal adoption.

A division bench of Justice Rajendra Prakash Soni and Justice Arun Bhansali, in a habeas corpus petition filed by a teenaged mother, further ordered petitioner’s nine-month-old baby to be reunited with her.

The petitioner, whose date of birth was February 25, 2005, moved the high court seeking production of her infant daughter, who, she alleged, had been taken away by her father.

The petitioner eloped with a boy at the age of 17 and later gave birth to a girl child on August 18, 2022. At the time of the birth of the child, the petitioner was with her father. After the delivery, he removed the child from her custody.

Subsequently, the petitioner, after attaining majority, went to live with her lover and filed a petition seeking the custody of her child. She alleged that the whereabouts of her child were not known to her.

In May 2023, the high court ordered the child to be produced before it. However, on a later date, the court was informed that the father of the petitioner had handed over the custody of the six-day-old infant to an ex-CWC member, who, in turn, had handed over the child to a woman.

The child was produced before the court by her current guardians who informed the court that the child was given to them by the former CWC member.

The former CWC member submitted that the child had been abandoned by the petitioner’s father and as the child needed care, she had handed over the child’s custody to the child’s current guardians.

However, while taking note of the illegal actions of the former CWC member, the court also expressed concern over the conduct of the child’s mother who remained silent for over eight months, without even caring for the whereabouts of the child and it was only after turning 18 that she sought the custody.

The court held that the actions of the former CWC member could not be countenanced under any circumstances.

Accordingly, the court directed the Principal Secretary, Department of Home, Rajasthan Government and the Superintendent of Police, Bhilwara to take appropriate action against the former CWC member.

Further, the high court ordered the child’s custody be given to the petitioner.