560 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
at the door of the Court of Law, to go to the district court and also in appeal and till that takes place no divorce can come into effect. I submit this will not be to the advantage but to the great disadvantage of the overwhelming majority of people amongst whom you say the custom of divorce prevails. Therefore, by enacting provisions of this type you are not helping the hopeless minority of 5 per cent but you are putting to disadvantage the majority of 90 per cent. Therefore, until and unless your provisions undergo a drastic change and amendment they should not and ought not to be brought on the Statute Book. I now come to the question of adoption. Here also the learned author and the draftsmen of this Bill have ignored the fundamental conception underlying adoption in Hindu law. As far as my meagre knowledge goes, adoption is not recognised by any other law. In Muslim law it was in vogue by custom, but even that has been brought to an end by legislation. According to Hindu conception, the life of a Hindu is so inter-mixed and inter-mingled with his religious conceptions and religion that it is impossible to separate the two.
Shri H. V. Kamath : Is the Honourable Minister for Law resting or meditating?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: I am hearing the honourable Member.
Pandit Mukut Bihari Lal Bhargava: I was submitting that adoption in Hindu law rests upon religious belief which says that it is essential for the salvation of the soul of a departed man that he should have a son who may be able to give him oblations so as to make him attain moksha. So if you are going to legislate about adoption, you must keep in mind the underlying conception. Otherwise, you eliminate it. If you keep it, you keep the spirit underlying the doctrine of adoption. ( An Honourable Member: What is the spirit?’) What are the criteria you have fixed in this Bill for validity of adoption? While the Hindu law says that the eldest and the only son cannot be taken in adoption, instead of retaining that very salient principle, you want to reverse it and say that even the eldest and the only son can be adopted. ( An Honourable Member : ‘It is unfair.’)
Babu Ramnarayan Singh : It is due to ignorance.
Pandit Mukut Bihari Lal Bhargava : It cuts at the very root of the conception of adoption, because according to Hindu law there must be the eldest or the only son to attend to the oblations for the departed natural father.