Mumbai: It is in the best interest of the child, who is still being breastfed, to be with her mother, observed the Bombay High Court while directing a man to hand over his one-year-old daughter’s custody to the mother.
The court noted that the mother was forced to leave the matrimonial house alone after her husband assaulted her and her sister-in-law snatched away the baby.
“The child is dependent on the mother to some extent on breastfeeding. This is an important consideration,” a bench of Justices S V Kotwal and Sandesh Patil said on Tuesday while hearing the woman’s habeas corpus (produce the person) plea seeking custody of her daughter.
The woman claimed that she was forced to leave her child behind as she was physically assaulted by her husband and sister-in-law last month. Since then, the toddler has been in her husband’s custody. She has claimed that she has been subjected to physical, emotional and mental cruelty since their marriage in 2023.
She urged the court to direct her husband to hand over their daughter’s custody to her as the child was still being breastfed and hence needed her mother.
Opposing the plea, the man contended that the woman left the home on her own and has refused to cohabit with him. Also, it would be in the child’s best interest to live with the father as he was earning, and the mother was not. The man said as per law, the father too was a natural guardian of the child.
However, the court disagreed, noting that since he was working he would not be in a position to take care of the child and the woman, who is now living with her parents, would be in a better position to look after the baby.
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The court also took note of WhatsApp messages sent by the man to his wife in which he has used abusive and filthy language. There is substance in the allegations of the woman that she was forced to leave her matrimonial house as she was scared for her safety, HC said.
The judges also remarked that the woman did not leave the child behind willingly, but was forced to as her sister-in-law snatched away the child.
In such matters, the best interest of the child has to be considered first and in the present case, the interest of the child is that her custody needs to be handed over to the mother, the court noted.
The bench directed the Vikhroli police to take steps to take custody of the child from the father and hand her over to the mother.
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