CWC had no jurisdiction over children sold by biological parents: HC

Bombay HC rules CWC lacks jurisdiction over infants allegedly sold by parents to childless couples. Court grants custody to adoptive parents.

MUMBAI: In an important ruling, the Bombay High Court on Monday held that Child Welfare Committees (CWC) do not have jurisdiction over infants allegedly sold by their biological parents to childless couples and handed over custody of three children “rescued” by the Vikroli police, to their adoptive parents accused of “buying” them from their biological parents.

HT Image

The division bench of justice Bharati Dangre and justice Manjusha Deshpande said that the CWC was not justified in sending the three children to a children’s home in Mahalaxmi, run by Baal Asha Trust, as they did not fall in the category of ‘children in need of care and protection’, as defined under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

The bench referred to the definitions of terms like ‘abandoned children’, ‘orphans and children in need of care and protection’ in the 2015 Act and held that the children purportedly sold by their biological parents did not fall in any of the categories and therefore the CWCs do not have the jurisdiction to deal with such children.

The bench, therefore, held that the orders passed by CWCs, handing over the custody of the three children to Bal Asha Trust, were “illegal, as CWC was not competent to exercise jurisdiction over the said children and transfer their custody” to the adoption agency.

The court was hearing separate petitions filed by the couples last month, challenging the CWC orders to send the children to the children’s home in Mahalaxmi. The custody of the children was taken away from the petitioners after the Vikroli police on April 27, 2024, purportedly unearthed a “child trafficking” racket and arrested some people for selling their children to childless couples either directly or through conduits.

Though the petitioner couples were not named as accused in the Vikroli FIR, the children were taken away from them, as they had allegedly illegally adopted the children by paying monetary considerations. Before high court, the couples claimed that they had validly adopted the children by signing proper adoption deeds. The court, however, rejected the claim and said the Adoption Deeds executed by the petitioners were either unregistered or merely notarized and, therefore, the adoptions were not valid, as the protocols for adoption prescribed by the Central Adoption Resource Authority were not at all adhered to.

Advocate Ankita Singhania, who represented Bal Asha Trust, submitted that the children would fall within the definition of ‘abandoned’ children or ‘orphans’, as contemplated under the JJ Act, 2015 and, therefore, the CWC was justified in exercising jurisdiction over them and sending them for specialised care to the trust.

The bench, however, did not accept the argument and granted custody of the children to the petitioner couples, as their biological parents had not come forward and because the children were in the former’s respective custody since a very young age, and they had taken care of them like their own children. The court has now ordered Bal Asha Trust to hand over the children to the respective adoptive parents within 24 hours, with liberty to the petitioners to adopt appropriate proceedings for legally adopting the children.