SC seeks reasons for denying maternity leave to woman if adopted child aged above 3-month
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to explain the rationale behind a provision which entitles only those women, who adopt a child below the age of three months, to seek maternity leave benefits.
The apex court was hearing a plea challenging the constitutional validity of a provision of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 which entitles only those women who are adopting a child below the age of three months to seek benefits of maternity leave for a period of 12 weeks.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Pankaj Mithal said the case put up by the petitioner in public interest prima facie was that the provision was a social welfare legislation and there was no reasonable classification when it restricted the age of infant up to three months.
"In other words, if a woman adopts a child above the age of three months, she will not be entitled to any such maternity leave benefit as provided under the Amendment Act," the bench noted in its November 12 order.
It said the Centre has filed its reply justifying the prescription of the age of three months but during the course of hearing, many issues have cropped up which require consideration.
"In such circumstances, we expect the Union of India to file a further reply on the issue discussed today, more particularly, as to what is the rationale in saying that it is only that woman who adopts a child below the age of three months would be entitled to seek maternity leave benefits otherwise not," the bench said.
It said the reply be filed within three weeks.
The bench said a copy of the reply to be filed be served to the counsel for the petitioner well in advance and rejoinder, if any, be filed within a week thereafter.
It posted the matter for final disposal on December 17.
In October 2021, the apex court had sought response from the Centre on the plea which claimed section 5(4) of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 was discriminatory and arbitrary.
"Section 5(4) apart from being discriminatory and arbitrary towards the adoptive mothers, also arbitrarily discriminates against orphaned, abandoned or surrendered children above the age of three months, which is completely incompatible to the object of the Maternity Benefit Act as well as the Juvenile Justice Act," the plea said.
The petition stated the purported 12 weeks of maternity benefit to adoptive mothers was not only a "mere lip service but when juxtaposed with the maternity benefit of 26 weeks provided to biological mothers
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Four booked for tying 18-year-old to tree, beating him up in UP's Pratapgarh
Pratapgarh (UP) (PTI): Four people were booked here for the abduction and assault of a man who they allegedly tied to a tree and beat up, police said on Wednesday.
The incident, a video of which has gone viral, took place on Tuesday afternoon under the Kunda police station limits.
The FIR was registered on Wednesday evening based on a complaint from the victim's father.
According to Keshav Prasad Yadav, a resident of Mauli village, some people called his 18-year-old son Nikhil Yadav on the phone and asked him to come out of his house around 2.30 pm on Tuesday.
As he reached outside the village as instructed, the accused allegedly forced him into a car and took him towards the Tinpedwa forest area, where they tied him to a tree and assaulted, the complainant said.
The attackers also recorded a video of the incident and circulated it on social media. The purported video shows the men thrashing Nikhil one after another, while one of them is assumed to have recorded the act.
Kunda Station House Officer Manoj Pandey confirmed the incident and said efforts are underway to identify and arrest all the accused.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has shared the video on social media, describing the incident as reflective of a "dominant mindset" against the PDA (Pichda or Backward, Dalit, and Alpasankhyak or Minority), and demanded strict action against the accused.
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