HC allows adoption of second child of same sex

The Bombay high court has held that couples can adopt another child of the same sex.

The verdict pronounced by justice GK Karnik last week assumes significance in view of the lacuna found in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, which allows parents of a biological child to adopt another child of the same sex, but has no express provision for the second adoption of a same-sex child.

Justice Karnik addressed the issue by holding that adoptive parents are entitled to adopt a child irrespective of whether they have already adopted a child of the same sex.

The judge noted that no provision of the Act, which governs adoptions, prohibits such an adoption.

With this ruling, the court allowed a US-based Indian couple — Christopher Drury, a person of Indian origin, and his wife Shenaz, an overseas citizen of India, to adopt a second girl child. They had adopted a girl in February 2008.

The couple had approached the court through the Indian Association for Promotion of Adoption and Child Welfare, a placement agency recognised by the Central Adoption and Resource Authority, seeking permission to adopt a girl, Taniksha. The court also took into consideration that the concerned child welfare committee had declared Tanishka to be free for adoption in April 2010, and it was in the girl’s interest to grant permission for her adoption.