India, April 4 -- The Bombay High Court has directed the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to issue a no objection certificate (NOC) to enable an adopted girl to relocate to Australia with her adoptive parents, noting that the child and her adoptive mother had been stranded in India due to procedural hurdles.

A division bench of Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge and Justice Abhay J. Mantri, while hearing a petition filed by the Navi Mumbai-based couple, observed that the adoption had been legally completed under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA), 1956, and could not be invalidated on technical grounds.

Quoting a 2016 Supreme Court judgment, the bench observed, "Adopting one child will not change the world; but for that chil...