NEW DELHI: In a curious turn of events, a divorced woman , who remarried , knocked the doors of the Supreme Court on Friday seeking to adopt her son, born from her earlier marriage, along with his stepfather without the biological father's consent, mandatorily required under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA).
Appearing for petitioner Divya Jyoti Singh, advocate Vanshaja Shukla narrated her plight before a bench of CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, which issued notice to her former husband .
Singh and her former husband are advocates who got married in Nov 2013. She alleged that the man deserted her in Sep 2015 when she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy and "repulsively" eloped with her brother's wife. She said along with her parents and brother, she had caught her then husband and sister-in-law in a hotel in 2016.
The man and her brother's wife started living together with the latter's four-year-old daughter. Singh said the man did not even visit her once after their son was born in Oct 2015. After filing of cross cases by both sides against each other, a family court granted them divorce by mutual consent in Sep 2016. In 2018, the man and Singh's sister-in-law got married and had a child who is now four years old.
Shukla said Singh remarried in 2020 and her husband and family agreed to accept her child. "The decision to remarry, in spite of undergoing unspeakable stress, pain and agony, was because she wanted to provide the child with a normal and healthy upbringing," she said.
While referring to repeated and continuous harassment from her former husband, Singh sought the court's permission to adopt her own son along with the stepfather without having to comply with Section 9(2) of HAMA that makes consent of the biological father mandatory for giving up a child on adoption.
The CJI-led bench said, "When HAMA mandates consent of the biological father, how do we compel him to give up custody even when the mother has been entrusted with guardianship of the child. However difficult the case may be, we will issue notice (to the erstwhile husband)." Asking the jurisdictional station house officer of Delhi Police to serve the notice on the former husband, it asked the man to respond in two weeks.
Appearing for petitioner Divya Jyoti Singh, advocate Vanshaja Shukla narrated her plight before a bench of CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, which issued notice to her former husband .
Singh and her former husband are advocates who got married in Nov 2013. She alleged that the man deserted her in Sep 2015 when she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy and "repulsively" eloped with her brother's wife. She said along with her parents and brother, she had caught her then husband and sister-in-law in a hotel in 2016.
The man and her brother's wife started living together with the latter's four-year-old daughter. Singh said the man did not even visit her once after their son was born in Oct 2015. After filing of cross cases by both sides against each other, a family court granted them divorce by mutual consent in Sep 2016. In 2018, the man and Singh's sister-in-law got married and had a child who is now four years old.
Shukla said Singh remarried in 2020 and her husband and family agreed to accept her child. "The decision to remarry, in spite of undergoing unspeakable stress, pain and agony, was because she wanted to provide the child with a normal and healthy upbringing," she said.
While referring to repeated and continuous harassment from her former husband, Singh sought the court's permission to adopt her own son along with the stepfather without having to comply with Section 9(2) of HAMA that makes consent of the biological father mandatory for giving up a child on adoption.
The CJI-led bench said, "When HAMA mandates consent of the biological father, how do we compel him to give up custody even when the mother has been entrusted with guardianship of the child. However difficult the case may be, we will issue notice (to the erstwhile husband)." Asking the jurisdictional station house officer of Delhi Police to serve the notice on the former husband, it asked the man to respond in two weeks.
