THE MUMBAI Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has refused to grant permanent or temporary custody to a couple who had allegedly purchased one of the six children rescued by the Mumbai police from an inter-state child-selling racket. The CWC has also refused to allow the couple to visit the two-year-old boy, who was sent to Bal Anand, a specialised adoption agency in July, when the racket was busted. “The committee is mindful of the fact that incidents of child trafficking is rampantly increasing. Children are being trafficked under the garb of adoption, from hospitals, nursing homes and institutions that do not figure in the adoption set up at all. The committee cannot encourage the practice of illegal adoption,” the CWC stated, while rejecting the application filed by the couple earlier this month. The boy, along with five others, all aged between 18 months and seven years, were rescued by the Mumbai Police crime branch in July and, as per orders of the CWC, sent to Bal Anand. The police claimed that the couple and others, from whose custody the children were rescued, had not completed any legal formalities to adopt the children. The “adoptive” parents were arrested in July and later granted bail by the sessions court. In an application submitted before the CWC, the couple had said they were taking good care of the child and instead of making him face the trauma of separation till a decision is taken on his custody, they should be given at least his temporary custody. Claiming that they had admitted the child to a playschool, they had also submitted that the disruption in routine and being restricted in a custodial institution would affect the child. The couple had sought the custody as ‘fit persons’, ‘foster parents’ or ‘guardians’, for which provisions are made under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act. The police, however, raised objection to the plea stating that during investigation they found that specific amount was paid by the couple and others to middlemen, effectively meaning that the children were sold to them. “The applicants cannot be considered any of this category as according to their statement before the crime branch they have not adopted the child through legal process, instead they have given money to some tout for the child, which is punishable. under the Juvenile Justice Act,” the CWC said. The police also said that the couple was unable to submit any documentary proof on the adoption of the child. They submitted that police investigation was still on and the biological parents of the child are yet to be traced. The CWC held that this showed that the couple had failed to comply with the adoption process under the Act, which requires a prospective adoptive parent to apply to a registered adoption agency and follow further guidelines. The CWC also relied on the model rules of the Act, which states that the committee “shall pass appropriate orders for the rehabilitation of the child”, who has been subjected to buying and selling. The crime branch’s unit VI had made its first arrest in June, claiming that children — all male — belonging to poor parents were “sold” through a nexus of surrogate mothers, hospital staff, and IVF centre employees, to families looking to adopt children. The children were sold for an amount ranging between Rs 3.5 lakh and 4 lakh and a part of it — around Rs 1 lakh — would be given to the biological parents, police said. So far, 15 people have been arrested in the case.
