The Bombay High Court has appointed paternal grandparents as legal guardians of a 14-year-old girl whose mother deserted her over seven years ago and father succumbed to cancer in September 2011, a year after her birth. The child’s mother remarried and now lives in Gujarat. The girl has a brother, who is now 20 years old and left the household in May last year to apparently live with his mother.
Hearing a petition filed by the grandparents seeking to be appointed as legal guardian of the girl, the court noted that the child is “extremely attached” to them. The grandparents had also sought direction to the Regional Passport Office (RPO) to issue a passport to the girl upon their undertaking, as they couldn’t take her to Saudi Arabia for Umrah pilgrimage last year.
The grandparents’ plea contended that the mother had filed a case against them before a court in Gujarat, alleging that they were cruel to the children and there was threat to their lives. However, after interacting with the children (the girl and her elder brother), the Gujarat court dismissed the complaint as it found no sign of threat and the children chose to stay with their grandparents.
Justice Riyaz Chagla, on January 18, noted that despite sending a notice, the mother did not appear before the court. He said, “I have had the opportunity of interacting with the said minor and I find that she is extremely attached to the petitioners. She has no knowledge of the whereabouts of her mother, who she said has not attempted to reach out to her for several years.”
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“It would be in the welfare and interest of the said minor that the petitioners are appointed as her guardians,” Justice Chagla said.
