SC to examine woman's plea for adopting unwed mother's child

New Delhi, Jun 22 (PTI) The Supreme Court Monday allowed
the petition of an American woman for early hearing of her
plea to adopt a male Indian child given to her by the child's
unwed mother who is believed to have fled to Nepal.

A vacation bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Asok
Kumar Ganguly directed the matter to be posted to the first
week of July on Rebecca Morlock's plea for transfer of the
adoption case from Darjeeling to Delhi.

Rebecca claims that about 17 months ago she has been
given the child in adoption by the male child's unwed mother
who was working in Darjeeling. Rebecca is in India working for
an American organisation which is engaged in the welfare of
orphans and unwed mothers.

While working in Darjeeling, Rebecca came in contact
with the unwed mother who she claims gifted the child to her.
The American woman wanted to adopt the child under the Indian
Adoption Act and moved a Dajeeling court.

However, in the meantime, it was stated that the child's
unwed mother left for Nepal where she originally belonged to.

Since the child's mother's whereabouts in Nepal are not
known, Rebecca's effort to adopt the child has run into
difficulty as her consent is a must for formalising the
adoption process. According to her, the unwed mother had left
for Nepal owing to the violence in Dajeeling over Gorkhaland
issue.

She approached the apex court seeking permission for
issuing notices in newspapers circulated in Darjeeling and
Nepal to trace the unwed mother. PTI RB
SCY