Committee on Inter-country removal & retention of children

• Committee headed by Justice Rajesh Bindal has submitted its report on legal issues related to Inter-country removal & retention of children to the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Important recommendations:

• This committee has recommended that the Government may establish an ‘Inter Country Parental Child Removal Disputes Resolution Authority’.
• The authority has been envisaged to provide a one window solution in cases of inter country removal and retention of Children.
• This authority may be chaired by a retired High Court Judge, with Members from Legal and Social sector background along with representatives from key Ministries.
• The authority may examine the inter country cases of removal and retention of children vis-a-vis the cultural context, merit of the case, and the best interest of the Child. Along with its recommendation, the Committee has also submitted a draft legislation to the Government.
• The Committee was also requested to study the draft of the International Child Abduction bill, prepared by the Law Commission.

About Protection of Children (Inter-Country Removal and Retention) Bill, 2016:

• This bill is in consonance with the principles of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, 1980, which seeks to protect a child from the harmful effect of wrongful removal and secure prompt return and reintegration of the child in an environment of his/her ‘habitual residence’.
• The Bill defines ‘wrongful removal or retention’ as an act in breach of custody to a person or an institution or any other body under the law of the country in which the child was habitually resident immediately before the removal or retention.
• The Commission proposes to apply the law to those wrongfully removed or retained children in India who have not completed 16 years.
• The Bill recommends the setting up of a Central Authority tasked with discovering the whereabouts of the child.
• The Authority will further act to prevent harm to the child, secure the voluntary return of the child to his or her habitual residence, exchange information relating to the child with the appropriate authorities of the contracting state, institute judicial proceedings in the High Court concerned to secure the return of the child, provide free legal aid advice, and make administrative arrangements for the return of the child.
• The court can order the return of a child who has been wrongfully removed or retained in India and if a period of one year has not elapsed from the date of removal or retention. However, the one-year cap is not final. The court can order return if it is established that the child is not settled in his/her new environment. It can refuse to order return if returning would expose the child to harm or if the child, on attaining an age and level of maturity, refuses to go back, among other conditions.

By: Vishal