The future was dark for five-year-old girl Bipasha when she was abandoned by her unwed mother, but it seems that there was a ray of hope for her, as a Spanish couple has recently approached the Missionaries of Charity for her adoption and filed a case of adoption in a Delhi court.
After hearing the plea, district judge (DJ) Gyan Prakash Mittal allowed the plea of the Spanish couple — Jordi Miralles Gomez and his wife — seeking Bipasha’s custody.
The DJ also directed the couple to furnish a surety of Rs 5 lakh for Bipasha’s adoption. Bipasha, who was born on January 21, 2005, was allegedly abandoned by her single mother at the Missionaries of Charity at Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
Seeking adoption of Bipasha, the Spanish couple pleaded before the court that since they had a son out of their marriage in 2004, but now, they wanted a girl.
The couple further told the court that they cannot have another child due to medical reasons.
The couple’s petition said, “Being very fond of children and having a desire to give home and shelter to a destitute child, we are keen and desirous of being appointed as guardians of a minor female child.”
The couple also submitted their passports, marriage certificate, sterility and health certificates, police clearance certificates, financial statements, employment, income certificates and property certificates to claim the adoption.
The child was declared legally free for adoption by the Child Welfare Committee, Kanpur, in 2009.
“For appointment of the guardian, the paramount consideration is the welfare of the minor,” the court observed while granting custody of Bipasha to the couple.
Taking into consideration that the gross annual income of the petitioners was Euro 1,29,000 (approximately Rs 80 lakh), the court said, “I am of the firm opinion that they were capable of maintaining themselves, their biological son and the female child.”