BENGALURU: Coming to the rescue of an Indian couple living in
Kenya
, Karnataka HC has directed
Central Adoption Resource Authority
(CARA) to consider their plea to recognise their
adoption
of a boy in Uganda by granting a NOC.
Citing jud gments of SC and Kerala and Madras HCs on cross-border adoptions, Justice M Nagaprasanna pointed out that rights of the parties had been conclusively determined by courts in Uganda, and the petitioners “are entitled to the relief that they have sought”.
The petitioners, who hold Indian passports, are currently based in Nairobi, having relocated to Kenya from Uganda, where they lived between 2011 and 2018.
They adopted a boy in 2014 and the jurisdictional family and children court at Makindye, Kampala, granted care of a child in their favour. High court of Uganda granted them guardianship of the child the next year. They then applied for formal adoption before Ugandan HC, which gave them all consequential rights over the child.
To get the adoption formalised in India, the couple submitted a plea to CARA on June 8, 2023. After no response, they approached HC.
The main argument is that inter-country adoption is recognised under Hag ue Convention of 1995. Since Uganda is not a signatory to the conven tion, CARA regulations or Juvenile Justice Act does not impede process of adoption being regularised in India. H Shanthi Bhushan, deputy solicitor general of India, submitted that Centre accepted that with courts in Uganda legalising the adoption, those orders are implementable in terms of Indian laws, if the petitioners are Indian citizens.
He said govt did not want to jeopardise rights of the petitioners or render the child illegal. The parents will be issued a support letter, which will be enough for entry into and exit from the country, Bhushan said, adding that if the procedure was appr opriately followed, a NOC for such adoption would also be issued by the competent authority.