The Supreme Court has said that women who adopt should also be granted maternity leave. It stated that maternity leave cannot be denied if a child is more than three months old.
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The Supreme Court has issued a significant ruling regarding women who adopt children. The Supreme Court has ruled that adoptive mothers cannot be denied maternity leave. Adoptive mothers have the same right to receive maternity benefits as biological mothers. The Supreme Court stated that women who adopt children over three months of age cannot be denied maternity leave. The Supreme Court urged the central government to consider implementing a paternity leave policy. The Supreme Court stated that the protection of motherhood is a fundamental human right.
The Supreme Court stated in its order that
- Maternity leave cannot be denied to a woman who adopts a child older than 3 months.
- Non-biological methods of family formation are equally legal. Biological factors do not in themselves constitute a family.
- An adopted child is no different from a biological child.
- The right to reproductive autonomy is not limited to biological reproduction.
- We recognize the difference between an adoptive mother and a biological mother, but we must also consider the purpose of the Act when answering questions.
- Section 60(4) of the Social Security Code, 2020, was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court as a violation of Articles 14 (equality) and 21 (right to life).
- This Act allowed adoptive mothers to receive maternity benefits only if they adopted children younger than 3 months.
Does discrimination against women not violate Article 14?
The Supreme Court, while delivering its order, said, “Maternity leave is an important aspect of human rights. We agree with the view that biological mothers and adoptive mothers are not on the same footing.” Justice J.B. Pardiwala, while delivering the verdict, said, “We have considered:
1) Whether the 3-month age limit, being discriminatory against women, would be considered a violation of Article 14?
2) Can the 3-month age limit be considered a violation of the adoptive mother’s right to reproductive autonomy and the child’s right to self-determination?”
How the case reached the court
Section 60(4) of the Social Security Code only allows 12 weeks of maternity leave if a mother adopts a child under three months of age. The Supreme Court agreed to examine the validity of a controversial provision in the Social Security Code, 2020, which limits maternity leave for adoptive mothers to those who adopt children under three months of age. A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan allowed Karnataka lawyer Hamsanandini Nanduri to amend her pending petition challenging Section 60(4) of the Social Security Code, which came into effect last month and reintroduces the earlier provision from the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.
– The court said it had reserved its decision in Nanduri’s petition on January 29, 2025, but the Centre went ahead and notified the 2020 Code on November 21, 2025, repealing the 1961 Act but retaining the provision under challenge.
– “Since Section 5(4) of the Maternity Benefit Act is equivalent to Section 60(4) of the 2020 Code, we permit the petitioner to amend the petition.”
– The bench said in a recent order that the decision will be listed for pronouncement after placing the amended petition on record.
– Section 60(4) of the Social Security Code allows maternity leave of 12 weeks only if an adoptive mother adopts a child below three months of age.
– If the adopted child is older than three months, including orphaned, abandoned, or surrendered children, there is no provision for maternity leave.
– In her 2021 petition, Nanduri had argued that the restriction was arbitrary, discriminatory, and unconstitutional, violating Articles 14 (equality), 19(1)(g) (right to profession), and 21 (right to life and dignity).
– Nanduri An adoptive mother in 2017 described this provision as offering only “lip service” to adoptive parents.
– Through the Central Adoption Resource Authority, she adopted two siblings – a four-and-a-half-year-old girl and her two-year-old brother – after officials insisted the children not be separated.
– When she sought maternity leave from her employer, she was informed that she was entitled to only six weeks of leave per child, as none of the children met the three-month age limit.
Her petition states that the law discriminates between biological and adoptive mothers, between adoptive mothers themselves, and even between adopted children.
Working adoptive mothers across the country have been granted rights.
The Supreme Court has delivered its verdict in an important case that raised the question of whether a mother who adopts a child older than three months of age can be denied maternity leave. The case involved the interpretation of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, and the Code on Social Security, 2020. The court had to determine whether the three-month age requirement applies to granting maternity leave to an adoptive mother under the law. This decision has clarified whether women who adopt children older than three months of age will be entitled to maternity leave. This will impact the rights of working adoptive mothers across the country.
