Source: http://www.hindu.com
‘Supreme Court did not allow petitioner to seek information’
It pertains to a case of adoption by a German couple
Pune: In a complete turn of events, Pune-based organisation Kusumabai Motichand Mahila Seva Gram (KMMSG), a party to the adoption of Arun Dohle by a German couple, Michel and Gertrude Dohle, has said that the Supreme Court had not given Arun, a German national, the approval to seek information about his biological mother, as reported by several newspapers earlier this week.
The statement issued by the organisation says that the newspapers have reported it wrongly, and that the Supreme Court had, in its judgment of August 16, dismissed Arun’s writ petition to produce his biological mother in court.
The court did not grant him any permission to seek information about her.
Giving the story a political twist, 37-year-old Arun claimed that he was the son of Appasaheb Pawar, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s brother. His lawyer, Pradeep Hanvur, stated in the court on Monday that Pawar’s brother had even helped the German couple and had recommended his adoption by them. Arun’s claim to the Pawar lineage was also dismissed by the court.
The organisation’s lawyer, Ajit Kulkarni, said that the Supreme Court Bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice T.S. Thakur, told Arun Dohle that his appeal “did not hold any logic”.
According to Mr. Kulkarni, the judgment of revealing biological parents would have had a drastic impact.
“This misinformation is creating havoc in the country. If this were true, it would have wrecked the entire adoption process in India. Parents who give their children to adoption centres have the right to privacy.
This cannot be challenged. Unwed mothers, who now leave their children with adoption centres, will fear being exposed and leave the children on roads,” Mr. Kulkarni said.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Kulakarni maintained that the organisation was also in discussion with him to initiate action against Arun, for spreading wrong information as also against newspapers that carried it.
Arun, who was born at Sasson Hospital in Pune, was adopted by the Dohles in 1973.
He returned to India in 2004 to search for his biological mother. When his request was denied at the KMMSG, he filed the writ petition in the High Court, which was dismissed on February 11, 2004.
