The Supreme Court on Tuesday declared as unconstitutional a key provision in the Code on Social Security, 2020, that restricted maternity leave for adoptive mothers to those adopting children below three months of age, holding that all adoptive mothers will be entitled to 12 weeks of leave from the date of adoption, irrespective of the child’s age.. For representational purposes only. (File Photo). A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan ruled that the age-based classification under Section 60(4) of the Code was “discriminatory” and violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, emphasising that adoption is an equally valid pathway to parenthood and cannot be treated differently from biological childbirth.. In a notable observation, the bench also urged the Union government to consider introducing paternity leave as a social welfare measure, signalling the need for a more gender-neutral and inclusive approach to caregiving.. Delivering the judgment, justice Pardiwala said the provision failed the test of constitutional scrutiny as it bore no rational nexus with the object of maternity protection, which is to ensure care, bonding and integration of the child into the family.. “The impugned provision is held to be discriminatory both for the adoptive mother as well as the adoptive child. Adoption is an equally meaningful pathway for creating a family…biological factors cannot exclusively determine familial values and entitlements,” the court said.. Reading down Section 60(4), the court held that the statutory benefit of 12 weeks’ maternity leave must apply equally to adoptive and commissioning mothers, beginning from the date of adoption, without any age restriction on the child.. The bench underscored that the purpose of maternity leave does not vary based on how a child enters a family, rejecting the distinction drawn between mothers adopting infants below three months and those adopting older children.. “A mother cannot be differentiated between one who brings home a child less than three months and one who adopts a child of a higher age,” the court held. It added that the right to reproductive autonomy is not confined to biological birth, expanding the constitutional understanding of parenthood to include adoption.. The court placed significant emphasis on the best interests of the child, noting that older children, particularly those adopted from institutional care, often require greater time for emotional adjustment and integration into a new family. “The paramount consideration has to be the best interest of the child…including the period required for the child to integrate into the new family,” the bench said.. By denying maternity leave for children above three months, the law not only disadvantaged adoptive mothers but also undermined the welfare and developmental needs of adopted children, the court held.. The ruling comes in a petition filed by Karnataka-based lawyer Hamsaanandini Nanduri, who had 

 A woman died after drowning when she fell into a drain after the collapse of an iron bridge in north Delhi’s Roop Nagar on Tuesday morning.. Rescue teams from the Boat Club are conducting an operation to check if more people may have fallen into the drain after the bridge gave way. (HT). Rescue teams from the Boat Club are conducting an operation to check if more people may have fallen into the drain after the bridge gave way, HT has learnt.. This incident comes after a series of pit-related deaths reported across the national capital this year, indicating a lack of basic safety measures put in place under contract rules and traffic police conditions for road work in several areas.. Kamal Dhyani, a 25-year-old bank telecaller, died in west Delhi’s Janakpuri in the early hours of February 5, reportedly after falling into a 4-5-metre-deep pit that had been left open and without safety cover on a poorly lit road. Delhi Police has arrested a contractor who had dug the pit as part of a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) project in Janakpuri.. More details are awaited. 

 Chennai, AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami has claimed that the current DMK regime has transformed Tamil Nadu into a “hub of drug trafficking” and alleged that people wonder if the state government was protecting the innocent public or “shielding the anti-social elements”.. DMK regime made TN a hub of drug trafficking, claims AIADMK chief Palaniswami. After M K Stalin took over the reins as Chief Minister in 2021, Tamil Nadu has been turned into a hub of ganja trafficking, illicit liquor sales and drug mafia. “This government has created a situation where there is no place in the state where ganja is not available. To put it bluntly, media reports show college students and even school students using drugs, including ganja, in a very casual manner,” the AIADMK general secretary has claimed.. “This has raised serious doubts among the people as to whether the ruling party and the chief minister are protecting the people or shielding those involved in the crimes,” Palaniswami said in a post on the social media platform ‘X’ on Monday night.. People across the state were agitated due to the increasing crimes and wanted this “incompetent and anti-people regime of the puppet chief minister to end,” the AIADMK chief said.. The drug menace apart, the brutal sexual assaults and murders against women and children have become rampant as never before.. “There have been about 30 lockup deaths in the last 5 years of the DMK rule. In the last two months alone, 4 Scheduled Caste youths have died in custody. People are clearly realising where law and order is heading under the DMK regime – a classic case of fence grazing the crops – and are deeply distressed,” Palaniswami alleged.. People felt insecure over the current law and order situation and wanted to know why the DMK government has not taken any action to ensure law and order, he said and appealed to the people to throw out the “anti-people regime”.. DMK government had always been dismissive of such allegations, and days ago, a top official, citing data, had said that the incidence of crime has witnessed a steady decline in the state.. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. 

 The biennial Rajya Sabha elections were held on Monday to fill 37 seats across 10 states. While many candidates won unopposed, voting was required for 11 seats, including five seats in Bihar, four in Odisha and two in Haryana.. Bihar’s longest-serving chief minister, Nitish Kumar, was among the prominent leaders who won in the Rajya Sabha polls. (HT File Photo/Santosh Kumar via HT). Bihar’s longest-serving chief minister, Nitish Kumar, was among the prominent leaders who won in the Rajya Sabha polls. Notably, the Opposition faced losses in Odisha and Bihar as candidates backed by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) gained from cross-voting and the absence of some legislators, as mentioned in an earlier HT report.. ALSO READ | Nitish Kumar, Nitin Nabin emerge victorious as NDA sweeps all five Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar. Rajya Sabha Election Results. State. Candidate. Party. BiharNitish KumarJD(U). BiharNitin NabinBJP. BiharRam Nath ThakurJD(U). BiharShivesh KumarBJP. BiharUpendra KushwahaRLM. OdishaManmohan SamalBJP. OdishaSujeet KumarBJP. OdishaSantrupt MisraBJD. OdishaDilip RayIndependent. HaryanaSanjay BhatiaBJP. HaryanaKaramvir Singh BoudhCongress. Many others were elected unopposed. Among those elected to the Upper House unopposed were former Lok Sabha deputy speaker M Thambidurai from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and senior lawyer Abhishek Singhvi from the Congress party.. In poll-bound West Bengal, four Trinamool Congress (TMC) nominees were also elected without opposition. They include Babul Supriyo, former West Bengal director general of police Rajeev Kumar, senior Supreme Court lawyer Menaka Guruswamy and actor Koel Mallick. Former BJP state president Rahul Sinha was also elected unopposed.. Notably, Guruswamy has become India’s first openly queer member of parliament.. In Maharashtra, all seven nominees won unopposed. These include six candidates from the ruling Mahayuti alliance as well as NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar.. The biennial Rajya Sabha elections were held on Monday to fill 37 seats across 10 states.. In Telangana, Congress nominees Abhishek Singhvi and Vem Narender Reddy were elected unopposed.. In Tamil Nadu, all six candidates also won without a contest. AIADMK sitting MP M Thambidurai and PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss were elected along with ruling DMK candidates Tiruchi Siva and J Constantine Ravindran. Congress candidate M Christopher Tilak and DMDK treasurer LK Sudeesh were also elected unopposed.. In the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, Congress candidate Anurag Sharma, a close aide of chief minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, secured victory.. With inputs from agencies 

 Former Prime Minister and Rajya Sabha lawmaker HD Deve Gowda wrote to Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday, expressing concern over disruptions that have been “unthinkingly” introduced inside and outside Parliament by Congress leaders.. File photo of former PM HD Deve Gowda in the Rajya Sabha. (Sansad TV/ANI Video Grab). Deve Gowda told Gandhi he has been “greatly disturbed by a certain chaos orchestrated “primarily by the opposition parties” and said, “I strongly feel that Congress parliamentarians, led by the Leader of Opposition, have provoked far too many disruptions inside Parliament and in its premises.”. The veteran leader also claimed that there is an “unprecedented” scale of disruptions in the recent times.. “Parliament, in recent times, has witnessed an excess of slogan-shouting, display of placards and name-calling. There has been an attitude of non-seriousness, which has assaulted my very idea and construct of Parliament and parliamentary democracy,” he added.. Deve Gowda urged Gandhi to speak to her party leaders and others in the opposition, and ask them “not to harm themselves, their cause and their political futures in the long run”.. “I am very confident that you will do the needful…,” the former prime minister said.