Rajasthan High Court Reunites Teenage Mother With Her 9 Months Old Baby, Orders Action Against Former CWC Member For Facilitating Illegal Adoption

The Rajasthan High Court has directed "adoptive parents" of a child to hand over the custody of the nine-month-old to her biological mother, after finding that the child was illegally taken away by the woman's father and handed over to someone else.

The child is over 9 months old and her mother is about 18 years and three months old. The custody of the minor child was handed over to the biological mother in court itself on May 23, the date of hearing.

The court's decision came after the teenager, who had eloped as a minor at the age of 17 and given birth to the child, filed a habeas corpus petition seeking the return of her baby.  She had previously been separated from her child by her father immediately after giving birth. Subsequently, after attaining majority, she reunited with the child's father and filed the petition, expressing concerns about the child's whereabouts.

A report filed before the court revealed that the child was currently in the care of a person, who expressed willingness to produce the child before the court. Based on these findings, the court ordered the immediate appearance of the infant and its production in court.

According to the factual report, the teenager's father had handed over the custody of the six-day-old infant to one, Asha Ramawat, who claimed to have previously served as a member of the Child Welfare Committee in 2016 and worked as a social worker in 2020-2021. Ramawat allegedly passed the child to a Delhi resident. The child then was handed over to a resident of Mumbai.

On the day of the final hearing, the "adoptive parents" appeared in court with the infant, stating that Ramawat had entrusted the child to them. 

The bench of Justices Arun Bhansali and Rajendra Prakash Soni expressed surprise at the teenager's silence for over eight months after the child was taken from her in August 2022. The court also said the conduct of Asha Ramawat was a misuse of her status and directed the appropriate authorities to deal with her actions in accordance with the law.

“Having considered the sequence of events, besides fact that the action of the father of the petitioner, in handing over a six days’ old child to someone after taking the custody from the mother, irrespective of the fact that the mother was minor at the relevant time, and thereafter the action of the purported social worker, who was earlier member of CWC, cannot be countenanced under any circumstances,” said the court.

Case Title: MK vs. The State Of Rajasthan D.B. Habeas Corpus Petition No. 118/2023

For Petitioner(s): Mr. Muktesh Maheshwari

For Respondent(s): Mr. M.A. Siddiqui, GA-cum-AAG, Mr. Pradeep Shah, Ms. Priyanka Borana, Mr. Nand Lal, SHO, P.S. Subhash, Nagar, Bhilwara (Raj.)

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