Khushi Doshi
Published on: March 21, 2022 at 13:44 IST
The Bombay High Court recently ruled that an adopted child has the Right to adopt the Single Mother’s Caste.
A Bench of Justices Sunil B Shukre and GA Sanap held that the District Caste authorities completely overlooked the crucial fact that the Petitioner had adopted her son from an orphanage after obtaining the necessary Court orders, and his birth records reflected this.
“In view of the facts and more particularly the fact that child was adopted from the orphanage with the permission of the Court, the child would be entitled to take the caste of the mother,” the Bench held.
As a result, the Court ordered the Deputy District Collector to issue a Caste Certificate to the Petitioner’s adopted son within two weeks.
The Petitioner had applied to the Deputy District Collector for the issuance of a Caste Certificate for her son, which was denied.
The Authority stated that the Petitioner was not entitled to a Caste Certificate because her son’s father’s caste documents were not submitted.
Dissatisfied with the order, the Petitioner filed an Appeal with the District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, which upheld the Collector’s decision.
The Petitioner then Petitioned the Supreme Court. She stated that because her son was adopted from an orphanage, there was no need to inquire about his biological parent’s identities because even the orphanage was unaware of them.
The child had been adopted under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, according to the Bench.
According to the Act, upon adoption, the child became a member of the adoptive parent’s family in every way, and such a child would also take the adoptive parent’s caste.
The Bench reasoned that refusing a caste certificate because no paternal records for the child had been submitted would have disastrous consequences.
With this decision, the High Court ruled that the Government Resolution did not apply in this Case.
As a result, the Court ordered the Collector to issue a caste certificate to the Petitioner’s adopted son within two weeks.
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