Kamal Ghorui
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has come to the rescue of a couple facing legal hurdles in taking their adopted daughter to Australia despite a valid adoption under Indian law. The couple, both now 44, adopted a relative’s third child in April 2023 under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA). At the time, the child was 45 days old, the wife was an Indian citizen while the husband had two months earlier acquired Australian citizenship. The wife later became an Australian citizen.However, Australian authorities did not recognise the adoption as an “inter-country adoption”, stating children adopted outside a Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption process are not automatically accepted. This meant the mother and child were stranded in India for 3 years. Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Abhay Mantri of Bombay HC on March 30, while disposing of a petition filed last year by the couple for judicial intervention, directed the couple to approach the district magistrate to have the adoption certified. The court invoked 2022 rules that govern adoptions and directed that once the district magistrate issues the verification certificate in 30 days, Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) must issue its No Objection Certificate (NOC) within 15 days. The CARA nod is crucial for inter-country adoptions and would then be intimated to the immigration authorities of India and Australia, the HC said. Children adopted overseas in circumstances outside of a Hague Convention process do not automatically have their adoptions recognised in Australia, the Australian authorities informed the couple and pointed to specific Australian migration requirements concerning special visas and citizenship pathways for adopted children. The HC said: “It is apparent that the (Australian) authorities need the appropriate authority in India to do the scrutiny and indicate its clearance. This authority is CARA.” The mother wrote to CARA in August 2025 what the Australian Home Affairs had emailed her. CARA, in turn, said since the adoptive father was an Australian citizen with Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status, Section 68 of Adoption Regulations, 2022 (rules governing inter-country HAMA adoptions), applied. A reply by CARA before the HC said it cannot regularise any aspect of the couple’s adoption unless they comply with requirements under the 2022 regulations to relocate a child adopted under HAMA to a foreign country. Anil Anturkar, senior counsel appearing for the adoptive parents, said it was not a case of inter-country adoption and questioned the objections raised by CARA. He said Regulation 69 of the Adoption Regulations, which pertains to concluded HAMA adoptions, would apply to the couple. It was an “expatriate adoption”, Australian authorities had said. “There is no provision either in the Juvenile Justice Act or the Adoption Regulations 2022, which defines Expatriate Adoption,” the HC said, but noted the adoption was legal under HAMA. The HC, after also hearing advocate YR Mishra for the Centre, held that in the peculiar facts, process under Section 69 would kick in. “Regulation 69 prescribes the adoption process and considers the case of parties to an adoption already concluded under the HAMA. This Regulation will have to be read as being applicable to the case,” said the HC, citing prior SC rulings. The court said: “Ideally petitioners should have followed Regulation 68 (procedure for inter-country adoptions).” But the process now cannot be reversed, the HC said, adding it had to consider “the future of the adopted baby as well.” The HC ruling made available late Thursday also noted that the mother, twice earlier, “on wrong advice” had filed petitions that led her nowhere. The HC said, “If the child is not permitted to be taken to Australia because of technicalities, the adoption would fail.” Justice Ghuge, who authored the judgment, observed adoptive parents’ dedication. The case “navigated through complex laws, to bless the adopted child with the love and care of the adoptive parents”, said the HC, noting the “sincerity and purity of the feelings of the adoptive parents.”
