This Article is From Aug 10, 2010

German seeks Supreme Court help in locating biological Indian mother

New Delhi: Thirty five years after he was adopted by a German couple, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine the plea of a man claiming to be the offspring of the brother of a union minister seeking a direction to help him locate his biological mother.

A Bench of Justices Markandeya Katju and T S Thakur initially expressed reluctance to pass any direction but later adjourned the matter till Thursday after making some observations.

According to the petitioner Arun Dohle, he was born on July 31, 1973, at Sassoon Hospital in Pune. A German couple, Michael and Gertrude Dohle, adopted him four weeks later from the Kusumbai Motichand Mahila Seva Gram (KMMSG) after his mother reportedly abandoned him.

He settled in Germany but later came back to India to locate his biological mother.

Arun says he was actually kidnapped from his mother and given away for adoption to a German family. He claims to be in fact the son of the brother of a powerful NCP leader in the UPA cabinet.

The lanky German national said he suspected the institution had kidnapped him as a baby and separated him from his mother.

He suspects that the abandonment theory was a ploy to facilitate his adoption.

Arun, through counsel Senthil Jagadeesan in the apex court, alleged that for the past eight years he has been rebuffed by Kusumbai Motichand Mahila Seva Gram, an institution for destitute women where his mother was last known to reside. The Bombay police too refused to help him in tracing his biological mother, he alleged.

The Bombay High Court had earlier in 2005 dismissed his plea, following which he appealed in the apex court. In 2005, the apex court had asked the Maharashtra Director General of Police to place in a sealed cover a report on Arun's biological connection.

However, when the matter came up today for hearing the sealed letter could not be traced in the files of the registry, forcing the Bench to adjourn the matter till Thursday.

But during the arguments, Justice Katju said the Supreme Court cannot convert itself into Parliament and legislate as otherwise the latter too would start deciding judicial matters.

"The Supreme Court cannot convert itself into Parliament. Otherwise, let Parliament be closed and let this court start legislating. If we start legislating, tomorrow Parliament would also start deciding cases saying courts are taking 20-30 years to decide litigations," the Bench said.

The Bench made the remarks when counsel for Arun argued that the authorities were bound to disclose the identity of his biological mother and cited a 1984 ruling of the apex court in the Laxmikant Pandey case.
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