TOI Edit : Child adoption laws in India need an overhaul : Nov 12,2007

Which is why the news that a Delhi district judge has allowed a Muslim couple — the Gillanis — to become adoptive parents of a little girl under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (JJ Act) is welcome news. This legislation — which has been around for a bit now but is not widely known — breaks new ground, allowing non-Hindu couples to adopt children and not restrict them merely to the role of guardians. As guardians, couples run into trouble over inheritance, because the child is not bestowed with automatic inheritance rights.

There are lakhs of children in this country waiting to be adopted. But the law as it stands, instead of enabling the process of adoption, only throws a spanner in the works. What we need is a uniform law that governs the process of child adoption in India, covering all citizens irrespective of the faith they subscribe to. Sure, there is going to be enormous resistance to such moves, especially from quarters such as the Muslim Law Board, which has traditionally resisted progressive legislation concerning the rights of women and children in the name of minority rights.

It is reported that the All India Muslim Personal Law Board has made a representation to the government against the JJ Act. Asaduddin Owaisi, an MP and member of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party has invoked the sharia and gone on record that the Qur’an does not allow Muslims to adopt children. These clerics and self-appointed guardians of Islamic tradition would do well to realise that a common law in no way negates the rights of the community. In fact, their rights are strengthened when constitutionally sanctioned. This holds true for all minorities. Individual rights and liberty are the pillars that hold up the secular edifice. It is the rightful inheritance of every Indian citizen, irrespective of religious or social markers. An argument against a common law is an argument for discrimination.