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Supreme Court safeguards the rights of prospective parents to adopt a child irrespective of religious background
The Apex Court has ruled that prospective parents have the right to adopt children according to the legally prescribed procedure irrespective of their religious background. While disposing of a writ petition filed in 2005 by social activist Shabnam Hashmi (Shabnam Hashmi vs Union of India) the Court held that the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, which entitles adoption by people belonging to any religion as long as they do not submit themselves to personal law ‘cannot be stultified by principles of personal law which, however, would always continue to govern any person who chooses to so submit himself until such time that the vision of a uniform Civil Code is achieved.’
However, the Court refused to declare the right of a child to be adopted and right of a parent to adopt a fundamental right under the Constitution, stating that in view of conflicting practices and beliefs such an order could not be passed.
The judgment can be accessed here