The Australia-based couple had informally given their third child for adoption to their relatives when she was only seven days old, according to Dhaval Dalal, the lawyer who represented the girl’s foster parents.
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“The biological parents had given their third child to my clients for informal adoption. Since then, the child has been living with my clients,” Mr Dalal said.
At that time, the couple was living in Nashik in state of Maharashtra in India. They later moved to Australia.
In 2016, the biological parents filed a complaint against the foster parents alleging that they forged documents to get her birth certificate and entered themselves as her biological parents.
Two years later, the foster parents of the girl approached the Gujarat high court. The high court ordered Surat Municipal Corporation to inquire into the matter.
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However, the now 13-year-old girl told the family court in Surat that she wanted to live with her foster parents in India.
“The court had called upon the child and asked her certain questions regarding her will to go and stay with her biological parents. The child declared her verbal and written will that she did not want to go to Australia. She is so much prejudiced against them,” Mr Dalal told SBS.
“Considering all these aspects, the family court has passed this order that the child’s custody will be given to her foster parents.”
“The biological parents have been given the right to call her on every Sunday and meet her during summer vacations for 15 days if the child feels comfortable.”
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Nehal Mehta, the lawyer for the biological parents of the girl, claims the girl had been tutored.
“The girl might have been tutored as the biological parents have no access to the child. The court has not considered all these factors and decided against us. We are going to file an appeal in the high court,” Mr Mahta told SBS.
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