Type in Malayalam CLICK HERE

photo
JPMNEWS.com
joychenputhukulam.com
ജോയിച്ചൻപുതുക്കുളം.കോം

Phone  :  847 390 7836

Cell      :  847 345 0233

Govt cant force nuns to continue adoption work: Legal experts (TOI)

Picture

Mumbai, Oct 14, 2015: A recent decision by the Missionaries of Charity (MoC) to discontinue adoption work has been criticized by Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi, but legal experts have struck a more balanced note in favour of the charitable organization.

Commenting on MoC’s stand, Gandhi had told TOI on Saturday that the adoption guidelines clearly stated that a single parent can adopt a child. “I suspect that the MoC is taking the plea to send out abandoned children abroad or to Christian homes.” Lawyers, however, pointed out that Gandhi had no right to force MoC -the Roman Catholic order founded by Mother Teresa 65 years ago to continue adoptions. Senior solicitor from Mumbai Chandu Mehta said, “The minister cannot compel a voluntary organization to continue its work even if the minister may feel that such discontinuance is a way to avoid compliance of guidelines.” Veteran family law lawyers Mridula Kadam and Mrinalini Deshmukh too they did not agree with the minister. “While national guidelines are important to bring in ease and transparency in the adoption process, yet it isn’t for a minister to force any voluntary organization to continue its work,” Kadam said.

“Besides how can Gandhi make allegations of religious bias against the Missionaries of Charity without any facts or data to back her claim?” Deshmukh pointed out. Lawyer Neela Gokhale, however, said that since Missionaries of Charity was in the field of adoption work in India, it ought to follow the law laid down in India. She said the missionaries’ stand of opting out was “incorrect”.

Though the Missionaries of Charity has not clearly specified its opposition to the single-parent rule, the release it issued did link the decision to the new adoption guidelines, under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 which came into effect from August 2015. The new rules require registration of every prospective parent online. The Central Adoption Resource Authority (Cara) then assigns them a registered adoption agency when their turn comes.

This means that the issue of “religion” will now come to the fore, said Bharati Dasgupta of Catalysts for Social Action which works towards rehabilitation of abandoned, destitute children in Maharashtra. “Even earlier guidelines permitted adoption by single parents, but some agencies were perhaps not following that norm. Now that there is no escape route–due to centralized database of registration by adoptive parents–the MoC may have decided to opt out.”

But having said that, Dasgupta added that it was MoC’s choice and no one could compel them to continue working as an adoption agency . “An agency cannot give precedence to religion over national laws or guidelines. But every agency needs to apply for renewal of its license regularly and the government authority can extend it or cancel it; similarly , the agency can choose to seek renewal or not.”

- toi



Comments


Post A Comment
Name
Email
Location
Title
Comment
Security Code :  
Reload Image Reload for a new code