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Benedict, a French medical student, travels to India with his classmate Sandra to explore mystic rituals, leading to their involvement with controversial practices that attract legal issues. They attempt to adopt an abandoned infant but face complications due to their lack of marital status and legal requirements for adoption in Nepal. Ultimately, Benedict's marriage is annulled upon his return to France, complicating any potential parental rights for Sandra.

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7 views

PIL moot

Benedict, a French medical student, travels to India with his classmate Sandra to explore mystic rituals, leading to their involvement with controversial practices that attract legal issues. They attempt to adopt an abandoned infant but face complications due to their lack of marital status and legal requirements for adoption in Nepal. Ultimately, Benedict's marriage is annulled upon his return to France, complicating any potential parental rights for Sandra.

Uploaded by

harsh10ughade
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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FACTS

 Benedict(Benoit) is a French young boy who lives in Cognac ( South-western French


province) has just completed his 20th Birthday.
 His father has permitted him to study medicine at a highly prestigious Bute Medical
School (University of St Andrews)Fife, Scotland, UK.
 His classmate naming Sandra Kaur (23 years) a Scottish girl of Indian Punjabi origin.
 Benedict started reading about para psychology and occult interpretations of mystic
Indian and Nepali, religious and customary traditions where it was believed that there
is a life after death and some people, called ‘Aughad’.
 Benedict had a huge curiosity to see and experience that performance.
 One day when he was talking with Sandra about his desire along with a proposal to
visit India and Nepal, she instantly accepted his proposal.
 In their visit to Rishikesh and Haridwar, on the bank of river Ganga, Benedict could
identify the place where some ‘Agori’ were worshipping near burnt dead bodies and
performing exotic rituals.
 It was a huge attraction for Benedict to be a part of the practice but Mastakanand
asked him to come with his wife, as Hindu rituals cannot be performed without a
wife.
 Benedict tried to convince her that it is not an actual marriage like Christians (where a
boy and a girl do promise against each other in a Church and the parents , relatives
and friends do witness the marriage with the blessings of a Priest), it is just a little
formality of Hindu ritual where Benedict and Sandra will be ‘considered only’
married for a specific purpose and after doing a ‘Saptapadi’
 The ‘Aughad’ practice was extremely horrific, strange and exotic to both of them.
Sandra was shivering with fear, curiosity and disgust and also not feeling comfortable
in the disguised presence of Mastakanand and Ramashish at that lonely bank of the
river in a chilling cold night but struggling hard to remain supportive of seeing
Benedict’s happiness.
 Due to Aughad’s performance as a foreigner couple, cannibalism and publication of
horrifying photographs, It became a hue and cry by the local community and religious
groups, demanding Benedict and Sandra be arrested for showing disregard to religion
and public sentiments.
 One lawyer Mr. Rajratnam from Delhi High Court made a complaint case against the
couple for cannibalism and destroying social harmony.
 During their tour they found out about an infant of barely one month on the staircase.
Sandra got moved and wanted to see the infant, a baby girl.
 Sandra requested the temple authorities to allow her to keep the child but they refused
to do so until both Benedict and Sandra proposed to adopt the child by surrendering
their identities.
 While returning back to Delhi, at Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, the
immigration officer asked the passport of all three along with a valid visa issued by
Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs but the newly adopted child had none so was
refused to get a clearance.
 The local administrative authorities asked the couple to show the documents
reflecting the child’s identity and establishing parenthood. Besides this, the couple
were unable to reveal the marital status of Benedict and Sandra.
 It was not possible for them to adopt a child without having the status of a married
couple.
 The British Embassy suggested them to get married in Embassy itself to legitimize
their marital status and so the adoption of the child as per the Indian laws.
 Benedict got furious and agitated on the proposal as he had no idea of getting married
without parental approval and to adopt a child without intention.
 Benedict suggested that Sandra to leave the child at its own fate and return back to
UK but Sandra denied.
 The joint decision of parenthood and marriage was ignored by him and without
understanding her emotional attachment with the child and also forthcoming legal
complexities he left for France.
 The moment he landed in Cognac, his father took him to the local Registrar of
Marriage and got his marriage nullified on the basis of the illegality of the marriage
solemnized in India without any approval of his parents and without any appropriate
rituals.
 Such marriage is not accepted in France and the Christian religion.

Can she be considered as a single parent of the child for adoption purposes ?
Section 69 of the Civil Code of Nepal, 2017 states, if a person accepts a son or daughter of
another person as his or her son or daughter, such a son or a daughter shall be deemed to be
an adopted son or daughter.
“In the case of a married man or woman applying for adoption of a minor, it is required that
both the husband and wife agree on adopting the child.
a. The consent of both the spouses for the adoption shall be required, in case of a
married couple;

Should adoption be considered as legal and valid ?

As per Section 57 of the Act, in the case of married couples, consent of both spouses is
necessary for valid adoption to take place. In the absence of consent of one, the adoption shall
be considered void.

Section 172 of the Civil Code lays down criteria for anyone to adopt a child. The criteria are
mentioned below:
1. A couple to whom no child has been born up to 10 years of the marriage

2. An unmarried woman having completed 45 years of age, a widow, a divorcee woman


or judicially separated woman, having no son or daughter

Can she should be provided with the maintenance of herself and the child?
NO, she should not be provided with the maintenance of herself and the child as their was no
consent of Benedict to joint parenthood and totally disagreed. Also,the illegality of the
marriage which was solemnized in India without any approval of his parents and without any
appropriate rituals. Such marriage is not accepted in France and the Christian religion.

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