LL.B. (Three Years) Sem 1 Family Law I Oct 2025 Question Paper with Solutions

For full marks, cover: adoption under the old Hindu law and what the 1956 Act changed; section 5 (an adoption outside the Act is void); the four requisites in section 6; the capacity of a male Hindu (s.7) and of a female Hindu (s.8, as substituted in 2010), with the spouse's consent; who may give in adoption (s.9) and the court's permission for a guardian; who may be adopted (s.10); the six conditions in section 11, including the actual giving and taking; the presumption from a registered deed (s.16), the bar on cancelling an adoption (s.15) and the bar on payments (s.17); Ghisalal v. Dhapubai, M. Vanaja v. M. Sarla Devi and Shabnam Hashmi v. Union of India explained; the limits of the Act; a conclusion.

Introduction

Adoption means taking the child of other parents as one's own. The child leaves the family of birth and becomes a member of the adoptive family for all purposes.

Section 5(2) states the result both ways. A void adoption creates no rights for the child in the adoptive family. It also takes away no rights of the child in the family of birth. The child does not end up belonging to nobody.

2. Section 6: the four requisites

Section 6 lists four requisites. "No adoption shall be valid unless":

1. "the person adopting has the capacity, and also the right, to take in adoption";
2. "the person giving in adoption has the capacity to do so";
3. "the person adopted is capable of being taken in adoption"; and
4. "the adoption is made in compliance with the other conditions mentioned in this Chapter".

Sections 7 to 11 fill in each requisite. Sections 7 and 8 deal with the person adopting. Section 9 deals with the person giving. Section 10 deals with the child. Section 11 sets out the other conditions.

Ghisalal v. Dhapubai, (2011) 2 SCC 298; AIR 2011 SC 644. Ghisalal said that Gopalji had adopted him in 1959. He relied on a registered adoption deed of 1964 and sued for a share in Gopalji's property. Gopalji's wife, Dhapubai, said she had never consented. The courts below presumed her consent. Witnesses said she was sitting with other women during the ceremony. The deed also recited that the adoption was the wish of both spouses. The Supreme Court reversed them and held the adoption invalid. It said the wife's consent is "a condition precedent" for adoption by a male Hindu. The consent must be in writing or shown by a positive act done willingly by her. Her presence "as a spectator" is not consent. Her silence or lack of protest is not consent either. The consent must be given before the adoption, not after it. The case shows that the proviso to section 7 is a condition of validity, not a formality.

A female Hindu (s.8). Section 8 was substituted by Act 30 of 2010, with effect from 31 August 2010. It now reads: "Any female Hindu who is of sound mind and is not a minor has the capacity to take a son or daughter in adoption".

Its proviso mirrors section 7. If she has a husband living, she needs his consent. The same three excuses apply: renunciation of the world, ceasing to be a Hindu, or a court declaration of unsound mind.

A guardian, with the court's permission. Under section 9(4), a guardian may give the child in adoption in some cases. This applies where both parents are dead, have renounced the world or have abandoned the child. It also applies where both have been declared of unsound mind, or where the parentage is not known. The guardian needs "the previous permission of the court". He may give the child to any person, including himself.

The court's test. Under section 9(5), the court must be satisfied of three things before it gives permission:

1. that the adoption will be for the welfare of the child;
2. that due consideration has been given to the wishes of the child, having regard to the child's age and understanding; and
3. that no payment or reward has been received or agreed for the adoption, except what the court may sanction.

An adoptive parent cannot give again. By the Explanation, "father" and "mother" do not include an adoptive father and an adoptive mother. So a child once adopted cannot be given in adoption a second time by the adoptive parents.

2. No second daughter. If a daughter is adopted, the adopter must not have a Hindu daughter or son's daughter living at the time.
3. Age gap, male adopting a female. The adoptive father must be at least twenty-one years older than the girl.
4. Age gap, female adopting a male. The adoptive mother must be at least twenty-one years older than the boy.
5. No simultaneous adoption. "The same child may not be adopted simultaneously by two or more persons".
6. Actual giving and taking. The child must be "actually given and taken in adoption" by the parents or guardian, or under their authority. It must be done with intent to transfer the child from the family of birth to the family of adoption. For an abandoned child, or a child of unknown parentage, the transfer is from the place or family where the child was brought up.

The proviso to clause (vi) says: "the performance of dattahomam shall not be essential to the validity of an adoption". Dattahomam is the old religious fire ceremony of adoption. So the Act needs the act of transfer, not the religious rite.

7. Proof, finality and payments: sections 15 to 17

Presumption from a registered deed (s.16). A registered document recording an adoption may be produced in court. If it is signed by the person giving and the person taking the child, the court "shall presume that the adoption has been made in compliance with the provisions of this Act unless and until it is disproved". The presumption can be rebutted. In Ghisalal, a registered deed existed, but the adoption still failed because the wife's consent was not proved.

No cancellation (s.15). "No adoption which has been validly made can be cancelled by the adoptive father or mother or any other person". The adopted child also cannot give up that status and return to the family of birth.

No payment (s.17). No person may receive or agree to receive any payment or reward for an adoption. A breach is punishable with imprisonment up to six months, or fine, or both. A prosecution needs the previous sanction of the State Government or an authorised officer.

8. The conditions at a glance

2. The same-sex bar. A couple with a son cannot adopt a second son. The bar reflects the old idea of one son for the line. It does not look to the needs of a child without a home.
3. The age limit of fifteen keeps older children out unless a custom is proved.
4. Gaps in protection. The Act has no home study or follow-up of the child after the adoption. A private adoption depends on the honesty of the parties.

Shabnam Hashmi v. Union of India, AIR 2014 SC 1281. A petition asked the Supreme Court to declare the right to adopt a fundamental right. It also asked for adoption to be opened to persons of every religion. The Court held that the Juvenile Justice law and the CARA guidelines already allowed any person to adopt an eligible child, whatever the person's religion. That law is "an enabling legislation". It gives a prospective parent the option to adopt but compels no one. The Court called it "a small step" towards the uniform civil code of Article 44. It refused to raise adoption to a fundamental right at that stage. The case matters here because it shows the route around the Hindu-only limit of the 1956 Act. Section 56(3) of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015 keeps the two systems apart. An adoption under the 1956 Act is not governed by the 2015 Act.