ADOPTION LAWS: CHALLENGES CONCERNING PROCEDURE FROM HUMAN RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE Myriad of provisions Governing Adoption and Guardianship: The diverse provisions of adoption and guardianship provided by the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890; Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956; Juvenile Justice Act, 2015; Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act and the personal laws of Muslims, Christians and Parsis and the customary practices recognised by the Courts has created a never ending web of hassles. What is disheartening is that their grey matter is often used to transgress the rights of children, especially in case of inter-country adoptions. If we compare them, one can easily find that though children welfare is given priority, but not much has been achieved on part of gender justice and religion parity. To achieve a safe haven for children, it is a must that a comprehensive legislation governing every single aspect shall be framed so that the anomalies prevalent in the above-mentioned legislations can be done away with. No doubt, the Adoption Regulations, 2017, were framed to achieve that clarity, but it has created hassles for in-country adoptions by providing a free ticket to either opt for it or not. Even in the Ashwini Kumar Upadhyaya v. Union of India,53 it has been pleaded that multifarious personal laws are causing delay and confusion during judicial adjudication of cases. Therefore, to control fissiparous tendencies, and to promote fraternity unity and integrity, which is the aim and objective of the Constitution of India, uniform guidelines of “Adoption and Guardianship” in the spirit of Articles 14, 15, 21 and 44 of the Constitution and international conventions must be framed.”54 Conclusion and Suggestions The institution of adoption was started to serve the social institution of son-ship among the Hindus. It was considered essential for a Hindu for religious purposes to have a son. There seems to be two reasons for having sons: For carrying the name of the family ahead, as the Hindu family is a male dominated family for the purpose of property. It was also considered essential that the last rites after the death of an individual must be performed by the son. The practice based upon religion was so strong that it was transferred to the other religious communities in India as well. Other religious communities accepted the institution in a very restricted way. The Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, helped a bit in this regard to familiarise adoption in other religious communities. The Act, 1890, has made an attempt to regularise 53 54 Writ Petition (C) No. 1000/2000, PIL under Article 32 of the Constitution available at: https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/pdf_upload-380682.pdf (Visited on October 20, 2022). 87