Abandoned child
A child deserted by his biological or adoptive parents or guardians who has been declared abandoned by the Child Welfare Committee after due inquiry (Section 2(1) of the JJ Act, 2015).
Explained
Section 2(1) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 defines an abandoned child as a child deserted by his biological or adoptive parents or guardians, who has been declared as abandoned by the Committee after due inquiry. The status thus has two parts: the fact of desertion and a declaration by the Child Welfare Committee. A child found alone is not an abandoned child in law until that declaration is made.
The term must be kept apart from close categories in the same section. An orphan under Section 2(42) is a child without biological or adoptive parents or legal guardian, or whose legal guardian is not willing to take, or capable of taking, care of the child. A surrendered child under Section 2(60) is one relinquished by a parent or guardian to the Committee because of physical, emotional and social factors beyond their control, and declared as such. The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 has its own definition in Section 2(1)(a), for a child born through surrogacy and deserted by the intending parents or guardians.
The procedure is set out in the JJ Act. Under Section 32, any person, police officer, organisation, nursing home or hospital that finds or takes charge of a child who appears to be abandoned or lost must report within twenty four hours to Childline, the police, the Committee or the District Child Protection Unit, or hand the child to a registered child care institution; non-reporting is punishable under Section 34. Under Section 38(1), after efforts to trace the parents, the Committee declares an orphan or abandoned child legally free for adoption, within two months of production for a child up to two years of age and within four months for an older child. No FIR may be registered against a biological parent in the course of that inquiry.
In Hindu law, Section 11(vi) of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 accommodates an abandoned child by allowing transfer from the place or family where the child was brought up. Under Section 93 of the BNS, a parent or person having care of a child under twelve who exposes or leaves it intending wholly to abandon it is punishable.
What the law says
(1) “abandoned child” means a child deserted by his biological or adoptive parents or guardians, who has been declared as abandoned by the Committee after due inquiry;
Clause (1) defines abandoned child; (42) orphan; (60) surrendered child
(1) Any individual or a police officer or any functionary of any organisation or a nursing home or hospital or maternity home, who or which finds and takes charge, or is handed over a child who appears or claims to be abandoned or lost, or a child who appears or claims to be an orphan without family support, shall within twenty-four hours (excluding the time necessary for the journey), give information to the Childline Services or the nearest police station or to a Child Welfare Committee or to the District Child Protection Unit, or hand over the child to a child care institution registered under this Act, as the case may be.
[(2) The information regarding a child referred to in sub-section (1) shall be uploaded by the Committee or the District Child Protection Unit or the child care institution, as the case may be, on a portal as may be specified by the Central Government in this behalf.]
Mandatory reporting of a child found separated
(1) In case of orphan and abandoned child, the Committee shall make all efforts for tracing the parents or guardians of the child and on completion of such inquiry, if it is established that the child is either an orphan having no one to take care, or abandoned, the Committee shall declare the child legally free for adoption:
Provided that such declaration shall be made within a period of two months from the date of production of the child, for children who are up to two years of age and within four months for children above two years of age:
Provided further that notwithstanding anything contained in this regard in any other law for the time being in force, no first information report shall be registered against any biological parent in the process of inquiry relating to an abandoned or surrendered child under this Act.
Declaring a child legally free for adoption
(a) “abandoned child” means a child born out of surrogacy procedure who has been deserted by his intending parents or guardians and declared as abandoned by the appropriate authority after due enquiry;
Clause (1)(a): abandoned child born of surrogacy
(vi) the child to be adopted must be actually given and taken in adoption by the parents or guardian concerned or under their authority with intent to transfer the child from the family of its birth [or in the case of an abandoned child or a child whose parentage is not known, from the place or family where it has been brought up] to the family of its adoption:
Provided that the performance of datta homam shall not be essential to the validity of an adoption.
Clause (vi): adoption of an abandoned child
Whoever being the father or mother of a child under the age of twelve years, or having the care of such child, shall expose or leave such child in any place with the intention of wholly abandoning such child, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both.
Explanation.—This section is not intended to prevent the trial of the offender for murder or culpable homicide, as the case may be, if the child die in consequence of the exposure.
Offence of exposure and abandonment of child under twelve
Earlier law: IPC 317. Exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years, by parent or person having care of it.
For the exam
- Section 2(1) JJ Act: desertion plus declaration by the Child Welfare Committee after inquiry.
- Report within 24 hours of finding an apparently abandoned child (Section 32); non-reporting punishable.
- Declared legally free for adoption within 2 months (up to age 2) or 4 months (above 2) (Section 38).
- No FIR against a biological parent during the inquiry (second proviso to Section 38(1)).
- Abandoning a child under twelve is an offence under Section 93 BNS.
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Related terms
- ChildUnder Section 2(3) of the BNS a child is any person below eighteen years of age. Special statutes use the same age with small variations, and child marriage law sets twenty one for males.
- AdoptionThe process by which a child is permanently separated from the biological parents and becomes the lawful child of the adoptive parents. Section 2(2), JJ Act; for Hindus, the HAMA, 1956.
- Child in conflict with lawUnder Section 2(13) of the JJ Act, 2015, a child alleged or found to have committed an offence who had not completed eighteen years on the date of the offence.
- GuardianA person having the care of the person of a minor, or of his property, or of both. Defined in Section 4(b) of the HMGA and Section 4(2) of the Guardians and Wards Act.
- MinorA person who has not attained majority, which in India is ordinarily the completion of eighteen years. A minor cannot contract, and his agreement is void.
Further reading
Checked 6 November 2026. Statutory text is quoted from the Bare Acts library, taken from India Code. See the full glossary.