The Law of Adoption in India: A Critical Analysis

Adoption is a process that impacts the life of a child and changes it completely. It has great implications. Hence, while dealing with the process of adoption, the sole criteria should be the welfare of the child. In India, adoption is gov- erned by personal laws and thus, every religion has its own rules and regulations. The Hindu law of adoption is codified under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act which extends to Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains as well, despite the latter claiming for a separate legislation for a long time. There are other flaws in the law as well. Muslims in the country do not have a codified law for adoption and are governed by their personal law. Rules are also laid down under other legislations like the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 which is a secular law and apply to all religions, uniformly. Thus, any person who chooses to be governed by the secular laws instead of their personal laws is free to do so. More often than not, conflicts arise and hence, a demand for a uniform law for adoption has been in place for quite some time now. This paper aims to highlight all these flaws in the law of adoption in India and provide amicable solutions to eradicate them.

Keywords: adoption, India, best interest of the child, LGBT, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Hindu law, Muslim law.