Religious Discrimination In Adoptions May Have Ended In India

India's Daily News and Analysis on Saturday discusses the impact of the August 2006 amendments to India's Juvenile Justice Act on adoptions by non-Hindus. Before the new law, non-Hindus were only "guardians" of their adopted children until the children turned 18. The child had no inheritance rights unless named in a will, and the adoption could be revoked when the child turned 18. The new law allows people of any religion to adopt, and gives the adopted child the same legal rights as a biological child. However the old laws treating adoptions by non-Hindus differently than those by Hindus were not repealed, and the interaction of the old and new laws remains unclear.