Rajasthan: Bikaner’s Laxmi finds Italian parents

A Bikaner’ family court directed district birth registration officer to issue a fresh birth certificate to the child within five days and passport authorities to issue her a passport within 10 days from the date of application.

Laxmi, who became an orphan after her mother died in a road accident in December 2008, when she was barely a few months old, has got new parents as a Bikaner’ family court allowed an Italian couple to adopt her.

An Italian couple has been allowed by a Bikaner family court to adopt Laxmi, who became an orphan in 2008 when her mother died in a road accident .(HT File Photo for representational purpose only)

In his order, family court judge Shyam Sundar Lata also directed district birth registration officer to issue a fresh birth certificate to the child within five days and passport authorities to issue her a passport within 10 days from the date of application.

Zerah Alberto and his wife Tartaglia Lucia of Genova in Italy applied on the online portal of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), a government of India body, for adoption of an Indian girl.

The CARA is the apex body that monitors in-country and inter-country adoption. It has the central authority to make sure the adoptions run smoothly and that the children are in the right hands.

The couple wrote in their application that they adopted an Indian boy from Durgapur in West Bengal in 2011 and now they wished to adopt an Indian girl to complete their family.

According to the court file of the case, the couple said they liked the Indian culture and wanted a girl born to Indian parents for adoption.

The couple also wrote to Union women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi to help them in the adoption process.

Gandhi wrote back to them assuring help. She also wrote to Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhra Raje for the speedy proceeding in the matter.

In his order passed on September 18, Lata wrote that the court praises the couple for their belief in Indian culture and respect for Indian peoples.

“It takes quite a heart as well as dedication to adopt a child from another country,” the order read.

The court noted that according to the provisions of Hague Convention on inter-country adoption, this order will be applicable in Italy as well.

Indian government ratified the Hague Convention on Inter-country adoption in 2003.

The Italian government and adoption authorities have already promised the Bikaner court to give citizenship and inheritance rights to Laxmi on her arrival in Italy, the order said.