Maharashtra State Womens Council Adoption Group v. Juan Pedro Ruiz Garcia and Antonia Horta Ojeda (Prop. Adoptive Parents) and Swaraj (Minor)
Case brief
What is this about?
Foreign adoption petition; inter-country adoption; special needs child; congenital heart defect / hole in the heart; dolichocephaly; motor nerve issues; JJ Act 2015 S.38; legally free for adoption; CWC Mumbai City-I and II; safe custody; CARA No Objection Certificate 09.12.2024; Adoption Regulation 2022; Adoption Regulations Reg. 18(15), 36, 38; Hague Convention Article 17(c); Spanish Central Authority; Ninos Sin Fronteras / Children Without Frontiers (AFAA); ICSW scrutiny officer; Home Study Report; video-conference interaction; Madrid / Ciudad Real State health services; Spanish Law 26/2015 and Law 54/2007; birth certificate and passport directions; six-monthly follow-up reports till majority; Bombay High Court; Abhay Ahuja, J.; Nisha Pradeep Pandya v. Union of India (jurisdiction); no consideration for adoption; privacy warning against public upload.
What did the court decide?
Petition allowed in terms of prayer clauses (a) to (f): the proposed adoptive parents are appointed as parents of male minor Swaraj; liberty granted to remove the child from the Court’s jurisdiction and take him out of India; the Petitioner is granted leave to apply to the Municipal Authorities for a birth certificate of Swaraj showing the proposed adoptive parents as his parents, with the Municipality/Birth Certificate Issuing Authority directed to issue it within five working days of application (per sub-regulation 15 of the Adoption Regulations 18 and Regulation 36); the Regional Passport Office is directed to issue Swaraj’s passport within ten days of application (per Sub-Regulation (4) of Regulation 18 and Regulation 38). Prayer (b) (change of name) forms part of the reliefs allowed, though the parents do not wish to change Swaraj’s name. The undertakings in the Petition and the Judge’s Order are accepted as undertakings to the Court, and Ninos Sin Fronteras (Children Without Frontiers) is additionally to furnish six-monthly reports with current medical reports to the Indian Embassy in Spain, forwarded to the Petitioner, the ICSW and the Court, till Swaraj attains majority in Spain.