INTRODUCTION
Adoption means taking a child voluntarily and loving him as one’s own child. In Hindu law, the different provisions regarding adoption are given but no separate laws are given in other personal laws such as Muslim law, Christian law, Parsis law so they need to move towards the court for adoption in accordance with the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890.[1]
As indicated by Manu, Adoption is the taking of a child, as a replacement for the disappointment of a male issue. Thus it is a transplantation of a child from one family wherein he is destined into another family in which the natural parents give him as a present. Adoption is a lawfully perceived method of connection as the child of an individual, of one who in certainty was not his child.
On adoption, ties of the child with his old family are cut off and he is taken being born in the new family, procuring rights, obligations, and status in the new family.
Presently, in the current situation, the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 has totally codified the law of adoption and has substantially altered it in correspondence to the necessities of the dynamism of Hindu society. Along these lines, every adoption will be made in similarity with this Act and any contravention of the provisions of this Act will be void.[2]
The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 reaches out to just the Hindus, which are characterized under Section-2 of the Act and incorporate any individual, who is a Hindu by religion, including a Virashaiva, a Lingayat or a follower of the Brahmo, Prarthana or Arya Samaj, or a Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh by religion, to any other individual who is certainly not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion. It additionally incorporates any legitimate or illegitimate child who has been relinquished both by his father or mother or whose parentage isn’t known and who in either case is raised as a Hindu, Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh.[3]
ESSENTIALS OF VALID ADOPTION
Section 6 of the Act enumerates the requisites of a Valid Adoption:
(i) The person adopting has the capacity, and also the right, to take in adoption;
(ii)The person giving in adoption has the capacity to do so;
(iii) The person adopted is capable of being taken in adoption; and
(iv) The adoption is made in compliance with the other conditions mentioned in this Chapter.[4]
In this way, no adoption is viewed as valid except if it satisfies the previously mentioned conditions under Section 6 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956. According to Section 5 of the Act, an adoption made in contravention of the arrangements of Chapter II of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 is void.[5]
WHO MAY ADOPT?
Capacity of male
Any male Hindu, who is of sound mind and is certainly not a minor, has the ability to take a child or little girl in adoption.
Provided that on the off chance that he has a wife living, he shall not adopt except with the consent of his wife, unless his wife has completely and finally renounced the world or has ceased to be a Hindu, or has been declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be of unsound mind.
On the off chance that an individual has more than one wife living at the hour of adoption, the consent of all wives is vital except if the consent of one of them is not necessary for any of the reasons indicated in the previous provision.[6]
Capacity of female
A female has likewise the ability to adopt any child. Section 8 of the Act gives that any female Hindu who is of sound mind, who isn’t minor and who isn’t hitched or whenever wedded, whose marriage has been dissolved or whose husband is dead or her husband has renounced the world at long last and definitively or her husband has become a convert or her husband has been announced to be of unsound mind by a court of equipped jurisdiction has the ability to take a boy or girl in adoption.[7]
A woman who is of sound mind and is definitely not a minor can take a child in adoption. The woman has no privilege to adopt, during the subsistence of the marriage, if the husband not experiencing any of the disabilities referenced in Section 8 of the Act. The unmarried and widow lady has likewise the right to take in adoption any child.
The 2010 amendment of Section 8 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 has acquired an extreme change in the Hindu Law.[8]
The newly enacted Section 8 reads as under,
“Any female Hindu who is of sound mind and is not a minor has the capacity can take a son or daughter in adoption,
Provided that, if she has a husband living, she shall not adopt a son or daughter except with, the consent of her husband unless the husband has completely and finally renounced the world or has ceased to be a Hindu or has been declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be of unsound mind.”
PERSON CAPABLE OF GIVING IN ADOPTION
Section 9 of the Act sets out the limit of an individual, who may give a child in adoption to another. No people with the exception of the father or mother or the guardian of the child will have the ability to give in adoption. [9]
- Father’s power to give in adoption: – If the father is living, he alone shall have the privilege to grant in adoption, but such right shall not be exercised unless with the mother’s consent.
- Mother’s right to give in adoption: – Mother may give the child in adoption if the father is dead or has fully renounced the world, or has ceased to be a Hindu, or has been deemed unsound by court jurisdiction.
- The ability of the guardian to give in adoption: – Where both the father and the mother are dead or the unsoundmind or have at last renounced the world, the court shall declare that the guardian of the child may give the child in adoption with the following condition established by the courts:-
- That the adoption isfor the child’s wellbeing.
- That no payment has been received by the applicant for permission in respect of the adoption.
- That no person has paid the applicant any payment for considering the child’s adoption.
The father has the special right of offering the child through adoption. Whether he is an unsound person or is suffering from a medical disorder, he is eligible to give a child through adoption. With the court’s prior permission the guardian may give the child in adoption.[10]
WHO CAN BE ADOPTED?
As indicated by Hindu Law, any child can be adopted according to certain conditions:
- The child ought to be Hindu.
- The child isn’t adopted previously.
- The age of the child is under 15 years.
- The child ought not to be married.[11]
EFFECTS OF ADOPTION
An adopted child shall be deemed to be the child of his or her adoptive father or mother for all purposes with effect from the date of the adoption and from such date all the ties of the child in the family of his or her birth shall be deemed to be severed and replaced by those created by the adoption in the adoptive family.
Provided that-
(a) The child cannot marry any person whom he or she could not have married if he or she had continued in the family of his or her birth;
(b) any property which vested in the adopted child before the adoption shall continue to vest in such person subject to the obligations, if any, attaching to the ownership of such property, including the obligation to maintain relatives in the family of his or her birth;
(c) The adopted child shall not divest any person of any estate which vested in him or her before the adoption.[12]
VALID ADOPTION NOT TO BE CANCELLED
No adoption which has been validly made can be cancelled by the adoptive father or mother or any other person, nor can the adopted child renounce his or her status as such and return to the family of his or her birth.[13]
CONCLUSION
Adopting a child is viewed as a decent deed performed by people. By and large, Adoption implies willingly adopt a Child and treat like one’s own child. In Hindu law, the various arrangements as for Adoption are given however in personal laws like Muslim law, Christian Law, Parsis Law; no different laws are given so they need to move toward the court for appropriation under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890.
When a child for good is isolated from his natural parents and become a legitimate offspring of his new parents and have all the rights that are identified with new parents. This implies the adoptive child can’t wed other the adoptive child or real child of his new parents.[14] In modern adoption laws, adopting a child is viewed as a decent deed performed by people. For the most part, Adoption implies unyieldingly adopt a Child and reward like one’s own child.
[1] https://blog.ipleaders.in/adopting-child-hindu-law/
[2] https://www.legalbites.in/law-notes-hindu-law-adoption/
[4] Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956, Section 6
[5] Supra at Note 2
[6] Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956, Section 7
[7] Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956, Section 8
[8] Supra at Note 2
[9] Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956, Section 9
[10] Supra at Note 2
[11] Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956, Section 10
[12] Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956, Section 12
[13] Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956, Section 15
[14] Supra at Note 1
Author:- Anshika Goel ,Research Board Member, All India Legal Forum