Telangana govt challenges custody of toddler to adopted parents

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has moved a division bench of the High Court against a single judge’s order that handed a three-year-old boy back to a couple claiming to be his adoptive parents, saying the adoption itself is disputed and is entangled in an illegal adoption investigation in Jagtial district.

According to The Times of India, a bench of Acting Chief Justice P Sam Koshy and Justice Suddala Chalapathi Rao heard the state’s appeal on Wednesday, November 4. It adjourned the matter to Wednesday, November 18.

The state said that the single judge restored custody before the adoption’s legality was examined. It argued that the validity of the adoption must be tested in accordance with law before the child can be returned to anyone.

Authorities said that the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) stepped in only after receiving information through the Child Helpline, and placed the boy under protective care under statutory provisions. The state also questioned whether the claimed adoption is legal under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, and pointed to the CWC’s obligations under the Juvenile Justice Act.

The government further told the court that the circumstances in which the child changed hands are part of a continuing criminal investigation by the Jagtial Police into an alleged illegal adoption racket. Citing this, it sought suspension of the single judge’s order, arguing that custody cannot be finally decided without a detailed examination.

How the boy went back to the couple

The child, Rudhra Mahesh, was returned to Kasarapu Saritha and Srinivas by a single judge on October 16. The couple had told the High Court that child protection authorities forcibly took the boy from them during the Jagtial police probe.

They said that his biological parents voluntarily gave him in adoption and that a registered adoption deed was executed in November 2023. Relying on this, the single judge directed the authorities to return the child to their custody. It is this interim order that the state is now seeking to set aside.

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