New Delhi, Aug. 4: Women in India may get equal rights in guardianship and adoption of children as a parliamentary panel today unanimously recommended that a Bill which seeks to amend two Acts in this regard be passed in the present form.
The Personal Laws Amendment Bill, 2010 — introduced in the Rajya Sabha on April 22 — was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice for eliciting public opinion on the issue.
In its report tabled in Parliament, the committee recommended that the Bill be passed in the same form. “The committee is of the view that the amendments proposed in the Bill would place the mother on an equal footing with the father with respect to the right of guardianship and the right to adopt,” it said.
With this, the proposed Bill, which seeks to amend the Guardians and Wards Act (GWA), 1890 and the Hindu Adoption Maintenance Act, 1956, is likely to be tabled in the LS during the Monsoon Session.
According to the GWA, which applies to Christians, Muslims, Parsis and Jews, if a couple adopts a child, the father is the natural guardian. The proposed amendment allows the mother along with the father to be appointed as a guardian, making the process gender neutral.
The Bill provides for the mother to be appointed as a guardian along with the father so that the courts do not appoint anyone else in case the father dies.
The second amendment, proposed in the Hindu Adoption Maintenance Act, 1956, (applicable to Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs) aims to remove the hurdles in the way of a married woman to adopt and also give a child for adoption.
Presently, unmarried and divorced women as also widows are allowed to adopt a child but women separated from their husbands and engaged in lengthy divorce battles cannot adopt a child.
The amendment would allow a married woman separated from her husband to adopt with the consent of her husband even during the time of divorce proceedings.