The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed maternal grandfather and uncle to hand over custody of a 10-year-old boy to his biological father at Kasturba Marg police station by 7 pm in the evening.
𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗮𝘂𝗹𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿
The order was passed by a division bench of Justices Ajey Gadkari and PD Naik after the boy resisted going with his father in the high court premises earlier in the day.
“Child tried to assault the father and ran away,” said additional public prosecutor Sangeeta Shinde to the bench.
𝗕𝗼𝘆'𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟵, 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻
The boy’s mother passed away due to cancer in 2019. Due to her ill health, she had gone to her parents house along with their child in 2019. The father, at the time, didn’t object. After the mother’s demise, the boy continued to stay with his maternal father and uncle.
The father approached the family court for custody which dismissed his plea. The father had then approached the high court with a habeas corpus (produce person in court) petition.
𝗛𝗖 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗼𝘆'𝘀 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿
The HC, on February 1, 2022, directed the maternal family to hand over the boy’s custody to the biological father. The order was upheld by the Supreme Court in November last year.
As the father did not get the boy’s custody, in November 2022, he filed a contempt petition before the high court against the maternal family for disobeying the court orders.
In December 2022, the HC had directed the maternal family to hand over the child’s custody to the father in the precincts of the housing complex where they stay. However, the child refused to go with the father, said their advocates Imran Shaikh and Amreen Shaikh.
𝗕𝗼𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆
The HC, on Monday, asked the maternal family to hand over the child’s custody to the father in the high court premises on Tuesday.
Accordingly the boy was brought to the HC on Tuesday but he once again refused to go with the father and resisted his attempts to forcibly take him away. Despite efforts from policemen from Kasturba Marg police station, the boy did not budge.
The matter was then once again brought to the bench’s notice. The judges then heard the matter at 3.30 pm.
The bench questioned the maternal family’s advocates as to why attempts were not made to hand over the child to the father. Imran Shaikh said, as per court orders, they had gone to hand over the boy’s custody, but he refused to go.
𝗛𝗖 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝟳 𝗣𝗠 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
The court noted in its order that, “Subsequently, a report submitted to APP dated Dec 13, 2022, said that the police had accompanied the petitioner (father) to take custody. However, said child was not ready to go with the petitioner.”
Expressing displeasure, the HC said that the court orders have not been complied with and asked the maternal family to hand over custody at 7 pm in Kasturba Marg police station.
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