Children Raised By Single Mothers Can Adopt Her Caste: Bombay High Court

In a landmark judgement, the Bombay High Court allows a 20-year-old woman to adopt the caste of her single mother, who raised her as a single parent after her divorce. Usually, the child belongs to the same caste as the father.

What Was The Case?

A bench of Justices Govind Sanap and Sunil Shukre was hearing the case of Kasturi Khandekar, who was seeking permission to adopt the caste of her mother that raised her single-handedly (psychological effects of single parenting on kids)after her divorce.

In October 2020, the petitioner moved the court because the Scrutiny Committee invalidated her claim for caste. The primary ground of the committee for rejecting her claim was that she did not submit any documents from her father’s side. She only submitted the documents from her mother's (maternity leave laws) side.

The petitioner’s parents had an inter-caste marriage in April 1993. The couple could not reconcile their disputes, and as a result, got divorced in 2009. The bench said, “The petitioner (Khandekar) having been born in August 2002 was hardly seven years of age at that time and was thereafter, raised by her mother as a single parent”. It added, "Even before the divorce, the record shows that Khandekar was looked after and taken care of in all respect by her mother."

In such cases, a Vigilance Enquiry Officer conducts multiple enquiries regarding the relation of the kid with maternal and paternal families. The details revealed that neither the father had ever cared for her kids nor he ever took his children to meet his side of relatives.

The bench noted, "The Vigilance Officer has found that the children or the two siblings, including Khandekar do not recognize any of the paternal relatives. Even while admitting her to the first standard in school, her mother showed her (Khandekar) as belonging to Mahar caste (caste of mother)."

The Judgement For The Case

The judges of the bench said, “The evidence shows that for all purposes she has grown and has been reared in an atmosphere and with customs, traditions and practices that prevail in a household inhabited by Mahar caste persons, which is the caste of Khandekar's mother from the maternal side. This evidence would certainly entitle her to stake a claim as belonging to Mahar caste."

The bench dissolved the orders of the scrutiny committee that insisted Kasturi Khandekar claim the caste of her father. The High Court also said that the committee failed to appreciate the evidence on the record. Adding, the judges said, "Such peculiar background of Khandekar would show that she was also subject to some disadvantages, same neglect and backwardness as her mother faced, and therefore, she can rightfully take the caste of her mother and not her father."

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Observing Khandekar’s background, the judges added, “The evidence shows that for all purposes she has grown and has been reared in an atmosphere and with customs, traditions and practices that prevail in a household inhabited by Mahar caste persons, which is the caste of Khandekar's mother from the maternal side. This evidence would certainly entitle her to stake a claim as belonging to Mahar caste."

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Highlighting the order, the bench said, “We have already held that Khandekar is entitled to claim the same social status as her mother, she having been almost entirely brought up by her mother.”

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