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The father of the teenage mother had handed over the six days old child to a former member of Child Welfare Committee without letting his daughter know.
While holding a former Child Welfare Committee(CWC) member guilty of misusing her position, the Rajasthan High Court recently ordered actions against her for facilitating an illegal adoption.
The division bench of Justice Rajendra Prakash Soni and Justice Arun Bhansali, in a habeas corpus petition filed by a teenage mother, further ordered petitioner's nine-month-old baby to be reunited with her.
The petitioner, whose date of birth was February 25, 2005, moved the high court seeking production of her infant daughter who, she alleged, had been taken away by her own father.
The petitioner eloped with a boy at the age of 17 years and later gave birth to a girl child on August 18, 2022. At the time of birth of the child, the petitioner was with her father and immediately after the delivery, her father removed the child from her custody.
Subsequently, the petitioner, again after attaining majority, went to live with her lover and filed a petition seeking back the custody of her child. She alleged that the whereabouts of her own child were not known to her.
In May 2023, the high court ordered the child to be produced before the court. However, on a later date, the court was informed that the father of the petitioner had handed over the custody of the six days’ infant to one former member of the Child Welfare Committee, who in turn had handed over the child to one woman, who had handed over the child to her daughter.
However, the child was produced before the court by her current guardians who informed the court that the child was given to them by the former CWC member.
Before the court, the former CWC member submitted that the six-day-old child had been abandoned by the petitioner's father and since the child needed care, she had handed the child's custody to the child's current guardians.
However, while taking note of the illegal actions of the former CWC member, court also expressed concern over the conduct of the child's mother who remained siled for over eight months without even caring for the whereabouts of the child and it was only after attaining majority, she sought its custody back.
The court held that be as it may be, the actions of the former CWC member could not be countenanced under any circumstances.
Accordingly, court directed the Principal Secretary, Department of Home, Rajasthan Government and the Superintendent of Police, Bhilwara to take appropriate actions against the former CWC member.
Further, regarding the child's custody, the high court ordered the same to be handed over to the petitioner.
Case Title: xxx v. State of Rajasthan & two others
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