Law for adoption helps non-Hindu guardians turn parents

A PIL (public interest litigation) challenging the ban on adoption in Islam, filed by social activist Shabnam Hashmi in 2005, is currently pending before the Supreme Court. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board sought to intervene in this matter by filing an application (raising objections to the PIL) that is yet to be allowed.

“For almost 15 years now, adoption agencies have been lobbying with the government to bring out a uniform code on adoption. There are lakhs of children waiting to be adopted in India,” said Hashmi.

This hasn’t happened, she added, but the JJ Act has given Indian couples a way out when the laws governing their religion clashes with their desire to adopt. Babu Joseph, a spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, said while the JJ Act was a law “in the right direction”, India needed “a uniform law related to adoption” and that if this went “against the beliefs of a community”, then there should be “separate laws” for such communities.

Ashish Sharma contributed to this story.