Delhi Court Directs Adoption Agency to Hasten Process for Indian German Couple

The Delhi High Court came to the aid of an Indian-origin German couple who wanted to adopt their relatives’ son but found a roadblock in the processes cited by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). The court directed CARA to give Dalip Arora and his wife a no-objection letter within two weeks so that they could take their 13-year-old adoptive child with them to Germany.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said that it would be a great injustice if the child was not united with the adoptive family despite severing ties with the biological one. “For over two and a half years, the minor child is living with uncertainty and, till date, has not been integrated with his adoptive family in the new country of residence,” he said.

Apart from directing the agency to issue a no-objection certificate, the court also asked the Ministry of External Affairs to issue a passport for the child.

The Aroras, who are in their 50s, are childless despite several medical procedures. The 13-year-old boy is the son of Dalip’s younger brother, Rajesh. CARA had not accepted the legal documents ratifying the adoption under the Guardianship Act from the trial court. The central adoption agency’s nod is required for an intercountry adoption.

“My brother and his wife were upset with the fact that they were living a life without a child,” Rajesh Arora told Mail Today, adding that the child is extremely fond of them and would ask them to take him along.

The adoption by the Aroras was done under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, which permits adoption of children up to the age of 14 years. The child was handed over to the adoptive parents in 2015. Since then the couple has been knocking on the doors of CARA, which had withheld its approval.

“Despite the fact that there is a valid adoption of the child by the adoptive parents and there is an adoption deed along with a judgment from the competent court ratifying the adoption, CARA asked the couple to go through a cumbersome process by making an application for adoption to CARA,” Sumita Kapil, the counsel for the couple, said.

The nodal agency said in court that it was important that all the documents were presented since it is an intercountry adoption.