Law Relating to Women and Children Questions 21 to 30

Q21. Enumerate any 3 provisions under the Constitution of India for the benefit of children.

• Right to free and compulsory elementary education for all children in the 6-14 year age group (Article 21 A)
• Right to be protected from any hazardous employment till the age of 14 years (Article 24)
• Right to be protected from being abused and forced by economic necessity to enter occupations unsuited to their age or strength (Article 39(e))
• Right to equal opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and guaranteed protection of childhood and youth against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment (Article 39 (f))
• Right to early childhood care and education to all children until they complete the age of six years (Article 45)

Q22. Explain in brief the need for Uniform Civil Code.

Article 44 lays down that the State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India. The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) calls for the formulation of one law for India, which would be applicable to all religious communities in matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption.

Need of UCC:

• Protection to Vulnerable Section of Society: The UCC aims to provide protection to vulnerable sections as envisaged by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar including women and religious minorities, while also promoting nationalistic fervour through unity.
• Simplification of Laws: The code will simplify the complex laws around marriage ceremonies, inheritance, succession, adoptions making them one for all. The same civil law will then be applicable to all citizens irrespective of their faith. When enacted the code will work to simplify laws that are segregated at present on the basis of religious beliefs like the Hindu code bill, Sharia law, and others.
• Adhering to Ideal of Secularism: Secularism is the objective enshrined in the Preamble, a secular republic needs a common law for all citizens rather than differentiated rules based on religious practices.
• Gender Justice: India has separate sets of personal laws for each religion governing marriages, divorce, succession, adoption and maintenance. However, the rights of women are usually limited under religious law, be it Hindu or Muslim. The practice of triple talaq is a classic example. If a uniform civil code is enacted, all personal laws will cease to exist. It will do away with gender biases in Muslim law, Hindu law and Christian law that have been often challenged by women on the ground that they violate the right to equality.

Q23. Discuss in brief the provision relating to maintenance of wife under section 125 of Criminal Procedure Code.

Maintenance is a term mostly associated with the financial support that a woman can claim from her husband after divorce. The explanation attached to Section 125(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure says that the term ‘wife’ includes women who is divorced by or has obtained divorce from her husband and has not re-married. It is enough if the applicant’s wife succeeds in showing that they lived together as husband and wife. So, who all can claim maintenance under the definition of wife are:

• Legally wedded wife
• Divorced wife but not a re-married wife

If any person having sufficient means neglects or refuses to maintain his wife and unable to maintain herself, a Magistrate of the first class may, upon proof of such neglect or refusal, order such person to make a monthly allowance for the maintenance of his wife, at such monthly rate, as such Magistrate thinks fit, and to pay the same to wife as the Magistrate may from time to time direct. The Magistrate can pass an order for interim maintenance during the pendency of the suit. The maintenance amount order under Section 125 of CrPC must be adjusted according to decree from civil court. Maintenance under 125 of CrPC can be claimed by any woman, irrespective of any personal laws.

If a man is healthy and able-bodied, he must be held to possess the means to support his wife, children and parents and he cannot be relieved of his obligation on the ground that he is a mere boy and is unemployed.

Q24. Explain in brief the rights of Muslim Women in respect of “Dower‟.

The concept of dower for all Muslims are governed by Muslim personal law. Under Muslim law, dower is known as ‘mehr’.  Mehr or Dower is a sum of money or other property to be paid or delivered to the wife. It is either specified or unspecified but in either case, the law confers a mandatory right of Mehr or Dower on wife. The Mehr (Dower) belongs to wife and she can deal with it in the manner she likes it and neither her husband nor husband’s relations nor even her relations can dictate her in matter of using the Mehr money or property.

• Right to Dower: Every woman under Muslim law has the right to claim a dower on the commission of marriage. Muslim law confers upon a wife or a widow to some rights to compel to get the payment of dower.
• Right to dower as debt- if the dower is debt then the widow is entitled along with other creditors to have it satisfied on the death of husband out of his bequest.
• Right to cohabit- the wife has a right under Muslim to refuse to cohabit with her husband in case the prompt dower is not paid and if the marriage has not been consummated.
• The right to retain her deceased husband’s property- wife has a right to retain his property until dower is paid if she has lawfully obtained the possession of her husband property.

Q25. What do you mean by Adoption? What are the provisions for a woman to adopt a child?

By adoption, a child is completely transferred from one family to another family and a number of legal consequences arise, both in the adoptive family as well as in the family of birth. All types of relationship in the family of the birth stands snapped after a child has given for adoption. The adopted child is entitled to succession, maintenance and other legal rights in the adopted family. The adopted child becomes legally dead for biological parents.

A Hindu woman can adopt a child provided she is of sound mind and not minor. Under this Section8 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, a Hindu female who is not married can take a boy or girl or both in adoption subject to Section 11(IV). If she subsequently gets married her adopted child will be treated as step-son or step-daughter of her husband. However, she will continue to be the adoptive mother of the adopted child.

A married woman cannot adopt at all during the subsistence of her marriage even with the consent of her husband. A married woman may adopt in the following circumstances:

1. when her husband has completely and finally renounced the world
2. the husband has ceased to be a Hindu;
3. the husband has been declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be of unsound mind.

In Narinderjit Kaur v. Union of India, AIR 1997 P&H 280 case, the Court held that where a child was given in adoption willingly by natural parents and was taken in adoption by adoptive mother through her attorney, it was held to be a valid adoption. It was also held that the subsequent marriage of adoptive mother does not invalidate adoption.

Q26. Enumerate 3 fundamental rights provided under the Constitution for protection of Women’s Rights.

• Right to equality (Article 14)
• Right against discrimination (Article 15)
• Right to personal liberty and due process of law (Article 21)
• Right to being protected from being trafficked and forced into bonded labour (Article 23)
• Right of minorities for protection of their interests (Article 29)
• Right of weaker sections of the people to be protected from social injustice and all forms of exploitation (Article 46)
• Right to nutrition and standard of living and improved public health (Article 47)

Q27. What do you mean by Sati? Which was the last recorded incident of Sati in India?

According to Section 2 (c) of the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987, “sati” means the burning or burying alive of (i) any widow along with the body of her deceased husband or any other relative or with any article, object or thing associated with the husband or such relative; or (ii) any woman along with the body of any of her relatives, irrespective of whether such burning or burying is claimed to be voluntary on the part of the widow or the women or other-wise.

On September 4, 1987, in the village of Deorala of Sikar district in Rajasthan, the 18-year-old Roop Kanwar mounted her husband Maal Singh Shekhawat’s funeral pyre and burned to death in its flames. Thirteen days later, at the traditional chunari ceremony, a crowd of at least 250,000 gathered at the site of her death to worship her as a goddess. At the time of the incidence, the Sati Prevention Act was not in existence. Hence the accused were tried under the Indian Penal Code for glorifying the incidence of ‘sati’. The Special Court acquitted all the accused, for the lack of evidence. Actually the crime was seen by thousands of people, but the law, its procedures, and legal machinery were totally inadequate to punish the guilty. This case is popularly known as ‘sati case’. Her death took place without the knowledge of her parents, who learned of it from newspaper reports. Her in-laws were found to be earning enormous sums from worshippers at a shrine erected to Roop on their private property, where they had held the funeral instead of at the public cremation site.

Q28. Discuss in brief the objects of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act, 2000.

The following are the objectives of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

• To lay down the basic principles for administering justice to a juvenile or the child in the Act;
• To make the juvenile justice system meant for a juvenile or the child more appreciative of the developmental needs in comparison to the criminal justice system as applicable to adults;
• To bring the juvenile law in conformity with the United Convention on the Rights of the Child;
• To prescribe a uniform age of eighteen years for both boys and girls;
• To ensure speedy disposal of cases as enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India by the authorities envisaged under this Act regarding juvenile or the child within a time limit of four months;
• To spell out the role of the State as a facilitator rather than doer by involving voluntary organizations and local bodies in the implementation of the proposed legislation;
• To create special juvenile police units with a humane approach through sensitization and training of police personnel;
• To enable increased accessibility to juvenile or the child by establishing Juvenile Justice Boards and Child Welfare Committees and Homes in each district or group of districts;
• To minimize the stigma and in keeping with the developmental needs of the juvenile or the child, to separate the Act into two parts—one for juveniles in conflict with the law and the other for the juvenile or the child in need of care and protection;
• To provide for effective provisions and various alternatives for rehabilitation and social reintegration such as adoption, foster care, sponsorship, and aftercare of abandoned, destitute, neglected, and delinquent juvenile and child.
• To allow juveniles between the age group of 16-18 years to be tried as adults for heinous offenses.

Q29. Enumerate any 3 provisions given under ILO for protection of Labour.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a UN specialized agency which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights. The objectives of the ILO were redefined at the Philadelphia conference in 1944. This was termed as “Declaration of Philadelphia”. The following 10 objectives were enunciated at the Philadelphia Conference.

• Full employment and the raising of standards of living.
• Employ workers on jobs for which they have adequate skill and satisfaction to work.
• Provide training and development facilities to achieve the above objective.
• Provide due share of profit as compensation to ensure a minimum level of living standard to all employed and protection as and when needed.
• Accept collective bargaining as a right of workers and a means of improving productivity between employees and management.
• Extend social security measures to provide a basic income to all in need and also medical cover.
• Protect the life and health of workers in all occupations.
• Provision for child welfare and maternity protection.
• Provide adequate nutrition, housing, and facilities for recreation and culture.
• Provision for quality education and vocational opportunity.

Q30. Explain in brief any three provisions relating to Welfare and Safety of women under the

Factories Act, 1948.

• Section 22(2) of the Factories Act, 1948 provides that no woman shall be allowed to clean, lubricate or adjust any part of a prime mover or of any transmission machinery while the prime mover or transmission machinery is in motion, or to clean, lubricate or adjust any part of any machine if the cleaning, lubrication or adjustment thereof would expose the woman to risk of injury from any moving part either of that machine or of any adjacent machinery.
• Section 27 of the Factories Act, 1948 prohibits employment of women in any part of a factory for pressing cotton in which a cotton opener is at work.
• Section 66(1)(b) of the Factories Act, 1948 states that no woman shall be required or allowed to work in any factory except between the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.