NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Theme : Issues related to Children , Government Policies & Intervention
Paper GS - 2
National Crime Records Bureau show that no less than 709 criminal cases of ‘exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years’ under Section 317 of the Indian Penal Code were registered in the year 2021.
Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 (HAMA): A “dattaka hom” ceremony or an adoption deed or a court order is sufficient to obtain irrevocable adoption rights.
Juvenile Justice Act, 2015: Parents have to register on CARA’s portal after which a specialized adoption agency carries out a home study report.
TABLE OF CONTENT
- Context
- Adoption Procedure in India
- Abandonment vs Surrendering
- Reasons of Abandonment of child
- Important Legislation
- About CARA
- Abortion
- Key Provisions of the MTP Amendment Act, 2021
- Supreme Court’s Directions
- Road Ahead
Context :
National Crime Records Bureau show that no less than 709 criminal cases of ‘exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years’ under Section 317 of the Indian Penal Code were registered in the year 2021.
Adoption Procedure in India :
Adoptions in India are governed by two laws:
- Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 (HAMA): A “dattaka hom” ceremony or an adoption deed or a court order is sufficient to obtain irrevocable adoption rights.
- Juvenile Justice Act, 2015: Parents have to register on CARA’s portal after which a specialized adoption agency carries out a home study report.
Status of Adoption :
- Central Adoption Resource Authority: There were 2,991 in-country adoptions and 414 inter-country adoptions in 2021-22.
- Report on Review of Guardianship and Adoption Laws, presented to the Rajya Sabha: There were 2,430 children declared legally free for adoption for 26,734 adoptive parents-in-waiting.
Abandonment vs Surrendering :
- An abandoned child means a child who is deserted by his biological or adoptive parents or guardians.
- Surrendered child: A parent or guardian, who for physical, emotional and social factors beyond their control, wishes to surrender a child, shall produce the child before the Committee.
- Legal provisions: In police parlance, abandonment is registered under three categories namely infanticide, foeticide, and finally exposure and abandonment of a child.
- Infanticide: Preventing a child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth (10 yrs' jail under IPC section 315).
- Foeticide: Causing the death of an unborn child, amounting to culpable homicide (10 yrs' jail under sections 315 and 316).
- Abandonment: Abandonment of child under 12 years, by parent or caretaker (7 yrs' jail under section 317)
- Implications of child abandonment: Abandonment endangers the child’s life and presents the child with life-long trauma and is also against the basic human right of ‘right to life’ and dignity itself.
Reasons of Abandonment of child :
- No knowledge of legislation: A key reason for the abandonment of children is a lack of awareness across India about the law on the surrender of unwanted children.
- Personal reasons: Unwanted pregnancy, breakdown of a relationship, lower socio-economic status etc
- Hassle-free abandonment: Many tend to believe safe surrender involves a lot of paperwork, which makes them opt for illegal shortcuts.
Important Legislation:
- The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (or the JJ Act): It requires hospitals, Child Care Institutions (CCIs), foster care agencies and Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), to legally bring abandoned babies into the adoption system and allows parents to hand over their child to adoption agencies or the CWC.
- Procedure: Following the submission of a "surrender letter", parents or guardians who want to give up a child are given 60 days to reconsider their decision following which documents such as Aadhar card, PAN card and hospital discharge papers are collected.
- In case both parents are drug addicts or alcoholics, a child can be considered eligible for surrender and declared so after the prescribed process of inquiry and counseling.
- Stringent punishment: It shall be the duty of an authority or officer in front of whom a surrender deed is executed to produce the child before the CWC within 24 hours. Non-reporting of abandonment within the prescribed time is a criminal offense.
- Safe surrender: The JJ Act provides that no First information report (FIR) shall be registered against any biological parent in the process of inquiry relating to an abandoned and surrendered child.
- The purpose of this provision is to ensure that all efforts are made to trace the parents or guardians of the child without initiating any criminal action.
- Further, the disclosure of the identity of such children is prohibited and all reports related to the child are to be treated confidential by the CWC.
- Significance of Surrender: It is a guarantee that the child will be taken care of till he or she attains majority or is adopted by a fit and willing parent.
About CARA :
- Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is an autonomous and statutory body of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, set up in 1990.
- It primarily deals with the adoption of orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children and regulates in-country and inter-country adoptions through its associated and recognized adoption agencies.The inter-country adoptions are regulated in accordance with the provisions of the 1993 Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, ratified by India in 2003.
Abortion :
- It is defined as the termination of pregnancy by various methods, including medical surgery before the fetus is able to sustain independent life.
- Earlier it was regulated by Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act 1971 that stipulated a ceiling of 20 weeks for termination of pregnancy on certain grounds, beyond which abortion of a foetus is statutorily impermissible. The Act was criticized for being regressive.
- The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021 amended the 1971 Act.
Key Provisions of the MTP Amendment Act, 2021:
- Termination due to Failure of Contraceptive Method or Device:Under the Act, a pregnancy may be terminated up to 20 weeks by a married woman in the case of failure of contraceptive method or device. It allows unmarried women to also terminate a pregnancy for this reason.
- Opinion Needed for Termination of Pregnancy:
- Opinion of one Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP) for termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks of gestation.
- Opinion of two RMPs for termination of pregnancy of 20-24 weeks of gestation.
- Opinion of the State-level medical board is essential for a pregnancy to be terminated after 24 weeks in case of substantial foetal abnormalities.
- Upper Gestation Limit for Special Categories:
- Increases the upper gestation limit from 20 to 24 weeks for special categories of women, including survivors of rape, victims of incest and other vulnerable women (differently abled women, minors, among others).
- Confidentiality:
- The “name and other particulars of a woman whose pregnancy has been terminated shall not be revealed”, except to a person authorized in any law that is currently in force.
Supreme Court Directions :
- The Supreme Court of India: It has just given a liberal interpretation to the law on termination of pregnancy when it comes to single and unmarried women.
- Section 3(2)(b) Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act(amendment)2021: The words “married woman” replaced “any woman” and “husband” with “partner.
- X vs The Principal Secretary Health and Family Welfare Department and Another (2022): The Court allowed an unmarried woman petitioner to abort her pregnancy of 24 weeks arising out of a failed live-in relationship, subject to the Medical Board’s recommendations.
Road Ahead :
- Generating Awareness: It is believed that most cases of unwanted pregnancies are known to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), daais and anganwadi workers, who have a strong network in villages. Hence, educating and sensitizing them may reduce incidents of abandonment.
- Promote legislation: Wide publicity needs to be given to these provisions of the JJ Act so that no child is deserted, and parents, guardians and functionaries who are mandated to report any abandonment do not face a risk of criminal offense.
- Local surveys: The Parliamentary Standing Committee has suggested periodic district surveys to identify children who are orphaned/ abandoned.
- Parents privacy: Amendments can also be brought in JJ Act that allow vulnerable parents to surrender their child confidentially without any stigma or legal repercussions at local police stations.
- Separate constitutional body: The child welfare should be built out as a separate constitutional structure such as the Election Commission of India, where central, state, and district child protection bodies are monitored and held accountable.
- Linking identity by attaching DNA linkage with Aadhar.