Child Welfare Committee — Adoption Outside the Statutory Pro · 31 July 2026
Nilima Dilip Kannurwar v. Child Welfare Committee: Bombay High Court Holds CWC Cannot Take Custody of a Child Who Is Neither Orphan Nor Abandoned
High Court of Judicature at Bombay · Criminal Writ Petition No. 530 of 2026
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The petitioners challenged a 25 May 2026 order of the Child Welfare Committee, Chandrapur, which took custody of a minor child from them and gave it to the biological parents. They said the biological parents had voluntarily given their third child in adoption to them, that an adoption ceremony was held at a temple in April 2026, and that a deed was executed and notarised. The State said the child was given without following the procedure prescribed by law, including the CARA guidelines under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.
A Division Bench of Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Justice Nivedita P. Mehta verified the deed with the biological parents and the petitioners, who both accepted the child was given by consent. It held that the deed was unregistered, that merely notarising it does not amount to a valid adoption, and that the CARA procedure had not been followed. It nevertheless held that the CWC's powers under Chapter V extend only to a child in need of care and protection under Section 2(14) of the Act, and that a child who is neither abandoned nor an orphan is outside them. It quashed the CWC's order and directed the biological parents to hand custody of the child to the petitioners. The Court did not find the adoption valid.
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