IN ITS very first report, the 21st Law Commission of India has recommended a jail term of one year for any parent or family member who is found guilty of wrongfully retaining or removing a child from the custody of the other parent.
Law Commission Chairman Justice B S Chauhan submitted the report on ‘The Protection of Children (Inter-Country Removal and Retention) Bill, 2016’ to Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday.
The report fine-tunes the recently drafted Bill of the Women and Child Development Ministry on the same issue, and adds the provision for punitive measures. A jail term of three months has also been suggested for those who willingly conceal or misrepresent any information on the location of the child.
