Hague Convention: WCD Ministry seeks public opinion

Months after the Ministry of Women and Child Development called for a consultation on whether it should sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, it has invited suggestions from the public on the matter. While the Convention came into force in 1983, and over 90 countries are signatories to it, India is yet to sign it. As per the convention, if a child is removed from his or her place of habitual residence, then they must be returned. The suggestions, to be submitted to member secretary Meenaxee Raj, will be accepted till July 31.

The Centre has been deliberating on the matter, and the WCD Ministry had even held a national-level consultation in February this year. The consultation, chaired by Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Rajesh Bindal, remained inconclusive. In 2009, the Law Commission, headed by former Supreme Court judge AR Lakshmanan, in its report recommended that the Centre accede to the Convention as it will "in turn bring the prospects of achieving the return to India of children who have their home in India".

The Centre had also drafted the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Bill in 2016 to this effect. However, several non-resident Indian women, estranged from their husbands spoke to WCD minister Maneka Gandhi, pleading her to not sign the convention. They pleaded that most of them had relocated from the countries they were staying in the West to India to escape abusive husbands. In case India signs the Convention, these women will have to let go of their children. The Bill was taken back after Gandhi paid heed to these pleas.