A city court on Monday issued non-bailable warrants against a couple who refused to hand over custody of a one-year-old boy to his biological mother, who had given them the love child last September to escape “social stigma”.The court also directed police to trace the child within 48 hours and produce him in court on Wednesday.The order came after Delhi Police failed to produce the child in court despite a search warrant issued earlier in the day. Asked to produce the baby in court by 3.30 pm, the police submitted that they could not trace the infant as his current custodians were not at their house, in West Delhi’s Rohini.“The investigating officer (IO) was directed to execute the search warrant by 3.30 pm but he has failed to do so,” Metropolitan Magistrate Savitri said. The child, the court noted, should now be produced in court on October 15 and “the IO be replaced, if needed.”After the infant’s biological parents handed over the child to an acquaintance, the two got married and sought back the boy’s custody. The parents claimed the child had been given away on “temporary basis”, for a period of “four months”. The current custodians, however, claimed in court that the child had been given to them in adoption.Last week, the court had observed that rights of natural parents were prima facie superior and had ordered the current custodians to hand over the infant. The court also noted that since no valid adoption deed was executed between the two couples, no legal rights could shelter the custody of the caretaker parents.
