CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has ordered for the restoration of a girl child to her biological parents who are facing trial for kidnapping a baby boy from a hospital by abandoning her.
The couple Sumatimani Sau and Ajit Kumar Sau, who are out on bail presently, had moved the high court after their application seeking custody of their daughter was turned down by the trial court.
The alleged kidnapping of a baby boy and abandonment of the girl child was reported from Balasore district headquarters hospital on April 4, 2024. The case is pending trial in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (Balasore). While directing the agency to restore the custody of the girl child to the petitioners, Justice Sibo Sankar Mishra observed that the right of the child precedes the guilt of the parents.
“The petitioners are entitled to a claim of custody of the infant being biological parents even during the pendency of the criminal proceeding,” Justice Mishra ruled and stated, “While the circumstances surrounding the abandonment of the female child are grave, it is equally important to recognise the maternal instinct and the natural bond between a mother and her child.”