Don’t let crime case affect adoption plea: HC tells CWC

The Bombay high court (HC) recently directed the Children Welfare Committee (CWC) not to be influenced by the criminal case against six couples who are accused of

The Bombay high court (HC) recently directed the Children Welfare Committee (CWC) not to be influenced by the criminal case against six couples who are accused of buying six male infants from middle-women, while deciding on their adoption pleas. The couples were booked in July for buying the children over a period of eight years.

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A division bench of justices BP Dharmadhikari and SS Jadhav, while hearing the petitions of the six couples, was informed that after being rescued in July, the children were housed in Bal Anand World Children Welfare Trust at Chembur. The petitioners said the children were missing school and should be granted interim custody so that they can attend school. The counsel for CWC, however, submitted that concerns of the petitioners were unfounded as three children had started attending a municipal school near the children’s home. and the other three children were attending the playschool within the premises of the home.

After hearing the submissions, the court refused to grant interim custody of the six children but allowed the petitioners to visit the playschool children between 12-4 pm and the school-going children in the evening. The HC directed the CWC to prepare a social investigative report (SIR) of the prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) and to decide on their adoption pleas within six weeks and submit the decision to the city civil court.

The court also directed the civil court to decide the criminal cases against the PAPs within three months after the submission of the SIR and posted the matter for hearing on January 12.