Supreme Court expresses concerns over adoption rackets

Hearing a public interest litigation seeking to ban inter country adoption, the bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and N V Ramana expressed its concerns over child trafficking and said that it was it was time to crack the whip on the adoption rackets.Appearing for the Petitioner, Senior advocate Shekhar Naphade submitted, "Government has no time to look into the issue. We have a case where a girl was taken to US but she was not taken care by her adopted parents and she indulged in drug trafficking. She was also not granted US citizenship. Children are being exploited and lots of money is involved in the racket but government is not doing anything." He also submitted that the children are used in organ trade and asked the Court to frame stricter guidelines with respect to inter country adoption.Reportedly, Senior advocate Shekhar Naphade also told the Court that J K Mittal, chairman of Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), a nodal agency for adoption under the women and child development ministry was himself caught taking a bride and is allegedly hand in glove with the adoption rackets. He reportedly said, "These are very disturbing facts. CARA is supposed to keep an eye on adoption and was evolved after a Supreme Court verdict. But its head is himself facing prosecution," the bench said and added, "I had a very high opinion of CARA. This is how institution comes down at the hands of an individual." Moreover, the Court rejected the plea of one Canadian national, Mytreyi Bharadwa who had sought that she be allowed to take the child she had adopted from a Kolkata orphanage six years ago. However, the Bench rejected the same as the woman’s associate had given a bride to CARA chief.Speaking for the Bench, Justice Gogoi said, "Don't worry about the child. You will not get adoption from anywhere in the country. You go to some other country to adopt child."The Bench did not show any favour even after the counsel for woman submitted that she had been taking care of the child for the past six years. The Court said, "We are of the view that she will not be entitled for any relief from any court for adoption. We dismiss her plea." The Court then asked Centre about the adoption process in this case. It said, "How did you reach the conclusion for giving no-objection certificate. We want to know the details. Where is the home study report of the person who wanted to adopt"However, the government failed to answer the questions put forward and the Court fixed July 14 as the next date for hearing pleas on inter-country adoption, while dismissing the plea of the Canadian woman.As per government records, in the last five years, 2,156 inter country adoptions have taken place from India.

Supreme Court expresses concerns over adoption rackets

Gaurav Pathak

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