‘Neither orphan nor abandoned’: Calcutta High Court returns child to adoptive parents

On September 17, the Calcutta High Court ruled that a three-year-old child should be returned to his adoptive parents. The decision came after the court found the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) responsible for wrongly holding the child in its custody. The child was born on February 24, 2023 and was adopted by the parents on the day he was born.

The adoptive parents argued that the child was not an orphan or abandoned, as he had been given to them voluntarily by his biological parents. The court acknowledged that the child was not in need of care and protection and that the adoption process had been completed in accordance with the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956.

Therefore, the high court directed the CWC to hand over the child to his adoptive parents by September 18.