Inquiry finds no wrongdoing at Pune-based orphanage

NEW DELHI: Even as Denmark continues its ban on adoption of Indian children to its country, a preliminary inquiry by the Central Adoption Resource Agency (Cara) has cleared Pune-based orphanage Preet Mandir of any wrongdoing.

A statement by the ministry of women and child development on Friday said that Cara, the nodal body for adoptions, had conducted an inquiry on allegations that four children had been put up for adoption without parental consent. "A preliminary inquiry has since been undertaken and it has come to light from documents available that the biological father himself approached the adoption agency concerned in Pune through a social worker to make his four children available for adoption/rehabilitation," the statement said.

The inquiry conducted by Cara chairperson J K Mittal also concluded that the biological father (Ramesh Kulkarne) had given his consent on April 9, 2002, to the agency to place his four children for adoption. This consent forms part of the relinquishment deed, which was signed by his sister and brother-in-law as witnesses and the same was countersigned by the Juvenile Welfare Board chairman.

The deed was written in Marathi, Kulkarne's mother tongue, who is stated to be a matriculate. "These facts lead Cara to believe that the adoption process of four children in this case was initiated with the consent of the biological father. However, detailed investigations are still in progress," a statement by Mittal said.

Kulkarne had claimed in a television documentary that after his wife's death, he had temporarily put his four children in Preet Mandir orphanage. He said for years, he was barred from seeing his children at the orphanage. In April, he learned that the children had been adopted in Denmark in 2003.