Last Updated on March 17, 2026 10:16 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
AMN
The Supreme Court today struck down a law which said a woman would be eligible for maternity leave if she legally adopts a child below the age of three months. A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan held that an adoptive mother should be entitled to maternity leave of 12 weeks, irrespective of the age of the adopted child. The Bench said the protection of maternity benefits cannot be confined to keeping in mind the age of the child. The court added that an adoptive mother would have the same rights and obligations towards the child as the natural mother.
The Supreme Court also asked the Centre to come out with a provision recognising paternity leave as a social security benefit. The Supreme Court’s judgement came on a plea challenging Section 60(4) of the Social Security Code, 2020, which allows 12 weeks of maternity leave only if an adoptive mother adopts a child below three months of age.