Women adopting a child will be able to get maternity leave for 12 weeks: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declared a legal provision unconstitutional. This provision limited maternity leave for adoptive mothers only to those mothers who adopt children under three months of age. While giving this decision, the court said that irrespective of the age of the child, all adoptive mothers will be entitled to 12 weeks leave from the date of adoption. The court said that like the biological mother, a woman adopting a child should also get maternity leave.

The Supreme Court bench said these things during the hearing

Hearing the case, the bench ruled that the age-based classification under Section 60(4) of the ‘Code on Social Security 2020’ was “discriminatory” and violated Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. The bench emphasized that the purpose of maternity leave does not depend on the manner in which a child comes into the family. There can be no difference between a mother. Whether he brings home a child less than three months old or adopts an older child. The Court further held that the right to reproductive freedom is not limited to biological birth, but extends the constitutional understanding of parenthood to include adoption.

Government should consider making policy on paternity leave also

The Supreme Court also asked the Central Government to consider introducing paternity leave as a social welfare measure. Through this the Court indicated the need for a more gender-neutral and inclusive approach to care.

child’s welfare comes first

The court emphasized the interests of the child. The court said that older children, especially those adopted from institutional care, often take more time to emotionally integrate and adjust to the new family. The most important consideration must be in the best interests of the child… which includes allowing the child the time needed to adjust to the new family.

Supreme Court gave its decision on this petition

This decision has come on a petition by Karnataka lawyer Hamsanandini Nanduri. They had challenged the provision, which was earlier in the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 and was later included in the 2020 code. He called it arbitrary and discriminatory. Their plea, which was argued by lawyer Bani Dixit, also pointed out that India’s adoption framework rarely allows adoption of children below three months of age, making the age limit benefit redundant in most cases.

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