Bombay HC grants child's custody to adoptive parents over financial viability

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court HC on Friday upheld a family court order which had refused to grant custody of a 6yearold boy to his poor biological parents observing that the child would be better off with his financially viable adoptive parents a childless couple from NagpurA division bench of justice AS Chandurkar and justice NB Suryawanshi said there was sufficient evidence to prove that the adoptive parents were in a better position to take care of the child stated a report in Hindustan TimesldquoThey adoptive parents are taking care of his health education intellectual development and are giving him favourable surroundings and they are imbibing moral and physical values in the childrdquo said the bench ldquoIn our opinion they are in a better position to look after the childrdquo they addedThe observation came in the view of the fact that the adoptive parents were from a business family and the adoptive mother was a practicing doctor whereas the biological father an autorickshaw driver lacked a steady source of incomeBesides HC noted the autodriver was married and has two children and the child in question was born out of his extramarital relationship with another woman who later joined his family and also delivered another girl childThe boy was born on August 30 2014 at a private hospital in Nagpur The next day the child and his mother were discharged from the hospital The father of the unwed mother however could not take his daughter and her illegitimate child to his home because of social constraintsFive days after the delivery the newborn was diagnosed with jaundice The motherrsquos father then decided to give the child to his employerrsquos son and his wife as they were childlessIn February 2015 the biological mother again came in contact with the auto driver when she stepped out for medical treatment She then joined his company and started demanding custody of the 6yearold After the adoptive parents refused to part with custody of the child in May 2015 they moved the family court at Nagpur seeking his custody on the ground of being his biological parents and contending that adoption was alien to Islamic LawThe adoptive parents also filed a counterpetition for their appointment as guardians of the childTwo years later the family court rejected the biological parentsrsquo claim and appointed the adoptive parents as guardians of the child The biological parents then appealed in HC against the family court orderThe HC on Friday dismissed the appeal primarily because the auto driver lacked steady income and had the responsibility to maintain two wives and three children Besides he was residing in a tinshed houseWhile dismissing the appeal HC also took into consideration that the child was handed over to the adoptive parents from the 5th day of his birth and since then the child was nurtured and brought up by them ldquoThe child is now six years of age and naturally he is mentally and emotionally attached to them adoptive parents The child has developed a bond with themrdquo said HCldquoThey both appear to be in a position to look after him and to provide adequate facilities in a proper and congenial mannerrdquo said the bench ldquoIn case the childrsquos custody is handed over to biological parents it would cause emotional turmoil to the child He will be uprooted from the present family and the surroundings in which he is brought up and will be required to go in alien surroundings and circumstances in which it would be difficult for him to adjustrdquo the court added