LAKSHMI KANT PANDEY versus UNION OF INDIA

Citation: [1984] 2 S.C.R. 795 · Decided: 06-02-1984 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: P.N. BHAGWATI · Disposal: Disposed off

Cited by 8 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

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795 
LAKSHMI KANT PANDEY 
v. 
UNION OF )NDIA 
February 6, 1984 
[P. N. BHAGWATI, R. ·s. PATHAK AND AMARENDRA NATH SBN, JJ.] 
Adoption of Children bY foreigners-Intra-national adoptions-Normative 
and Procedurai safeguards to be insisted 'upon so far as a foreigner wishing to take 
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a child in adoption, outlined-Constit,;t;on of India, 1950 Artie/es 15,24 and 39 
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and Guardian and Wards Act (Act VIII of 1890), Section-~ 7 to.9 a1Jd ]]. 
The petitioner, an advocate of the Supreme Court addressed a letter in 
public interest to the Court, complaining of mat-practices indulged in by social 
· organiSation and vnlunhiry agencies engaged in the work of offering Indian 
Children in adoption to foreign parents, the petitioner alleged that not only 
Indian Children of tender age are under the guise of adoption "exposed to the 
Jong horrendous journey to distant foreign countries at great risk to their ·lives 
but in cases where they survive and where these children are not placed in the 
shelter and Relief Houses, they in course of time become beggars or prostitutes 
' for want of .proper ·care from their alleged fo&ter parents." The p~titi.oner, 
accordingly, sought relief restraining Indian based private agencies ''from 
carrying put further activity of routing children for adopticn abroad" and 
directing the Government of India, the Indian Council of Child Welfare and the 
Indian Council of Social Welfare to carry out their obligations in the· matter of 
ador)tion of Indian Children by Foreign parents. Being a public interest litiga. 
tion, the letter wa.s treated as a writ petition. 
Disposing of the Writ Petition, after indicating· the principles and norms 
to be observed in giving a Child in adoption to foreign p3.re~ts, the Court 
HELD : 1 : I. Every child has a right to love and be loved and to 
grow up in an atmosphere of love and affection and of moral and material 
security and this is possible cnly if the child is brought up in a family. The 
most congenial environment would, of cotlrse, be that of the family of his bio. 
logic2't parents. But if for any reason it is not possible for the biolog'cal 
parents or other near relative to look after the child or the child is abandoned 
and it is either not possible to trace the parenrs or the parents .are not willin_g 
to take care cif the child, the next best alternative would be to·find adoptive 
parents for the child so ihat the child can grow up unde'r the loving care and 
attentiob of the adopthe :)arents. The adootive parents would be the next best 
substitute fo~ the biological parents. [8J3E·F] 
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1 : 2. When the parents of a child want to give it away in adoption or 
the child is abandOned and it is considered necessary in the inte:est of the 9hild 
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796 
StlPRl!MB COURT REPOFTS 
(1984) 2 S.C.R. 
to give it in adoption, every effort must be made first to find adoptive parents 
fOr it within the country, because such adoP· ion would steer clear of any pro· 
bJcms of assimilation of the child in the family of the adoptive parents which 
migi.1t arise on account of cultural, racial ur linguistic diftCrences in case of 
adoption of the child by foreign parents. If it is not possible to find 
suitable adoptive parents for the child within the country, it may become 
necessary to give the 'Child in adoption to foreign parents· rather than allow 
the child to grow up in an orphanage or an institution where it will have no 
family life and no love and affeciion of parents and quite often, in the socio-
economic conditions prevailing in the country, it might have to lead the life of 
a destitute, half clad, half.hungry and sufferin5 from mal-nu1rition and 
illness. [ • '4B· DJ 
2: I. The primary object of giving the child in adoption should be the 
welfare of the child. Great care has to be exercised in permit ting the child to 
be given in adoption to foreign parents, lest_ the chi l.d may ·be neglected or 
abandoned by tbe adoptive parenls in the foreign country or the adoptive 
parents may n~t be able to provide to the child a life or moral or material 
securi1y or the child may be subjected to moral or sexual abuse or forced labour 
or e1;perimentation for meidcal or other research and n,ay be placed in a worse 
situation than that in his own country. [i:ll~G-H; 8l6A] 
2 : 2. Since there is no statutory enactment in our country providing for 
adoption of a_ child by foreign parents or laying down the procedure which

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