Need to recognise paternity leave as basic right: Madras HC

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court observed it is high time that policymakers recognise paternity leave and parental leave for biological or adoptive parents as a basic human right of the child. Quashing the desertion order passed by DIG Tirunelveli range against a police inspector B Saravanan, who went on unauthorised leave for his wife’s delivery, Justice L Victoria Gowri made the observations on Monday. The court said his child’s right to live and development of childhood comes under Article 21, guaranteeing him the right to seek paternity leave to attend his wife’s delivery. Since the joint family system has almost eroded, and when the existing challenges of nuclear families are unprecedented, it is high time that the policymakers recognise the right to paternity leave as a basic human right of the pre-natal or postnatal child, the court observed.