Falling fertility rate has made two-child norm outdated: SC

5 NOVEMBER 2026

The Supreme Court held that laws penalising having more than two children have lost their relevance due to the falling fertility rate in India.
“We are of the strong opinion that laws that penalise having more than two children have lost their relevance. The foundation of such laws, that is, the fear of overpopulation, has crumbled due to demographic changes in the past few decades,” a Bench headed by Justice P.S. Narasimha observed.
The court said its 2003 judgment (in Javed v. State of Haryana) which upheld such penal laws, needed a revisit by a larger Bench.
India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) had fallen from 3.02 to 1.9.
A TFR of 2.1, known as the replacement rate, would allow one generation to completely replace itself.
The judgment was based on a petition filed by Mangala Bhimrao Ingle, whose election as sarpanch of the Kakoda gram panchayat in Maharashtra was set aside on the ground that she had more than two children.
Justice Narasimha found such laws linking motherhood to political representation a violation of Article 21 (right to life) under the Constitution.
Seeking an immediate re-visitation of the 2003 judgment, the court permitted the appellant to continue in her elected position while staying any proceedings against her.