CASE: Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v Union of India and Ors.
CITATION: Writ Petition(s) (Civil) No(s). 1000/2020
CORAM: Hon’ble Chief Justice S.A Bobde, Hon’ble Justice A.S Bopanna and Hon’ble Justice Ramasubramanian
On Friday the Supreme Court issued a notice in a plea that was filed by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking uniform grounds of adoption and guardianship for all the citizens in the country.
The plea stated that there should be no discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth in cases related to adoption and guardianship, to uphold the spirit of Article 14, 15, 21, and 44 of the Constitution of India and certain other international conventions. The petitioner contended that since the apex court is the custodian of the Constitution and the protector of the Fundamental Rights, it should declare these discriminatory grounds in adoption and guardianship as violative of Article 14, 15, 21 of the Constitution of India.
The plea also seeks for the court to issue directions to the Law Commission of India to prepare a report on Uniform Grounds of Adoption and Guardianship within 3 months. This report should take into consideration international conventions and the best ways for adoption and guardianship.
The petitioner also stated that even though India is a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic the state has failed in providing uniform grounds of adoption and guardianship for all citizens.
The petitioner also stated that Hindus have a codified law for adoption whereas the Muslims Christians and Parsis don’t. an adopted child can be a legal heir and inherit a property in Hindu law the same is not for Muslim, Christian, and Parsi law.
A three-judge bench issued the direction for removing anomalies in the grounds for ‘adoption and guardianship’ and make them uniform for citizens throughout the country and without any discrimination.
