The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday struck down a provision restricting maternity leave to mothers who adopt children below three months of age, holding it discriminatory and violative of fundamental rights. The court held that adoptive mothers are entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave irrespective of the child’s age.
“We have reached the conclusion that Section 60(4) of the 2020 Code, insofar it puts an age limit of three months on the age of the adoptive child, for the adoptive mothers to avail maternity benefit under the 2020 Code, is violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution respectively,” a Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan ruled.
Observing that adoption is part of a woman’s reproductive autonomy, the court said maternity benefits cannot be tied to the age of the child. It emphasised that adoptive mothers have the same rights and obligations as biological mothers.
“The object of maternity benefit is not associated with the process of childbirth but with the process of motherhood,” the bench said, adding that the purpose of maternity protection does not vary based on how a child enters a family.