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India widens the definition of “family”

Excerpt

India’s Supreme Court ruled that family benefits under the law must be extended to blended families, same-sex couples and other households it considers “atypical.” It is the latest in a series of court decisions to challenge the country’s conservative mores, and it could have major implications for the rights of women and gay people.

The court ruled in favor of a nurse whose employer denied her application for maternity leave because she had already taken leave to care for her husband’s children from a previous marriage.

“The concept of a ‘family’ both in the law and in society is that it consists of a single, unchanging unit with a mother and a father (who remain constant over time) and their children,” the two-judge bench said in the decision. D.Y. Chandrachud, the justice who wrote the order, said, “This assumption ignores the fact that many families do not conform to this expectation.”

Background: Family issues often pit unmarried parents against extended families in lengthy legal battles. In some cases, family courts have awarded custody to grandparents or other relatives because a child’s mother works outside the home.

In practice: The Supreme Court’s judgment is final, but its enforcement abilities are limited, leaving open the question of how much immediate effect it may have, particularly in more conservative parts of India.





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