An elderly couple’s petition to see their minor grandson in court has been rejected by the Bombay High Court. The couple had alleged that the child has been untraceable since 2020 and that they have seen him only once in 12 years.
Appeal dismissed for second time
This was the second instance of dismissal of their appeal. The first one was dismissed earlier in 2015 by the HC, which they had approached after the family court in 2014 denied them the child’s custody but granted them access to him. They had alleged that their daughter-in-law took the child away after their son’s death in 2010.
The couple’s son married in 2008 and their grandson was born a year later. Following their son’s accidental death, their daughter-in-law initially resided with them. However, on December 28, 2010, she left the house with the child allegedly without informing them.
Opposing the couple’s plea, additional public prosecutor Prajakta Shinde cited the prior 2015 dismissal by the HC. She said the couple later went back to the family court on the HC’s direction and when they couldn’t meet the child the former directed the police to locate him in July 2022.
HC advises grandparents to pursue case in family court
The HC bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Gauri Godse upheld the previous rulings. Justice Dere advised the grandparents to pursue their case in the family court, which is the appropriate forum.
The HC bench said that if they were denied access to the child by the daughter-in-law, they were advised to “adopt the appropriate remedy available under law to enforce the said order”. The HC said, “Same cannot be done by filing such a petition for issuance of writ of habeas corpus against respondents. In view of these facts and circumstances of the case, we are not inclined to entertain this petition. The writ petition, accordingly, stands dismissed.”
