In a heartwarming judgment, the Bombay High Court has formally recognized a 74-year-old Christian couple from Mumbai as the adoptive parents of a 34-year-old married woman who has been in their foster care since infancy.

The couple had approached the court recently, explaining that they had not formally adopted the woman earlier due to a long-standing belief that Indian law did not permit Christians to adopt.

However, they later came across two court rulings affirming that there is no legal restriction preventing Christians from adopting. This prompted them to seek formal recognition of their foster daughter as their adoptive child.

The petitioners, who never had biological children, informed the court that a city-based shelter home had entrusted the girl to them in July 1992, when she was just one year old. A court order issued at the time had appointed them as her legal guardians and noted that the couple would adopt the child if the law ever permitted it, reflecting the prevailing belief that Christian adoption was legally restricted.

Their counsel, advocate Nitin Raut, emphasized that the girl had been raised as part of the family, enjoying a deep emotional bond with the couple. Now 34 years old, she was married in January 2023 and currently resides in Dubai with her husband.

Raut further submitted that the couple was unaware of a significant 2000 ruling by the Bombay High Court, which clarified that in the absence of specific legislation on who may adopt, individuals appointed as guardians under the Guardians and Wards Act are eligible to seek adoption.

While acknowledging that their guardianship had technically ended when the woman attained adulthood, Raut argued that formalizing the adoption would not only cement the lifelong parent-child relationship but also grant the woman social recognition as the couple’s daughter and give the family a sense of completion.

On March 27, Justice Abhay Ahuja allowed the plea after personally interacting with both the couple and the woman. The judge observed the evident closeness between them and agreed that adoption would honor the enduring bond they shared.

"The marital status of the daughter does not change or alter her relationship or bond with her parents and should not come in the way of granting an order of adoption," Justice Ahuja noted in his judgment. He further allowed the couple to follow their customs and traditions with their daughter and son-in-law.

The court also directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to issue a fresh birth certificate, naming the couple as the woman’s legal parents