HC junks custody plea for 8-yr-old daughter

Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court recently dismissed a petition filed by a Katol farmer seeking custody of his 8-year-old daughter from her maternal relatives. The court ruled that the child's welfare could not be disturbed through extraordinary writ jurisdiction when she was living with her maternal family since infancy.A division bench comprising Justices Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Nivedita Mehta, however, granted the father visitation rights twice a month and directed that the meetings be supervised at the office of the Taluka Legal Services Authority in Saunsar, Madhya Pradesh, where the girl stays.The petitioner contended that alleged that matrimonial discord led his wife to frequently stay at her parent's home, where she died in June 2020. Later, he contended, his daughter was "illegally detained" by her maternal uncle, grandparents and aunt.The maternal relatives argued that the child was living with them since birth and that her father had shown little interest in her upbringing. They contended that the petition was filed only after an interim maintenance order was passed against him in January 2022 in proceedings initiated on behalf of the minor child.The judges noted that the father took no legal steps to seek custody for nearly three years after his wife's death, even after remarrying in December 2021. They underscored that habeas corpus jurisdiction in child custody disputes is limited and must be exercised cautiously."The court cannot treat child as a property and transfer custody casually," the bench said, adding that such disputes must be approached "sensitively on humanitarian ground."The judges noted that the girl was barely two years old when her mother died and sine then has remained with her maternal relatives. They added that there was no material to establish that the custody was "illegal and unauthorised."The bench also stressed that questions surrounding permanent custody and long-term welfare required detailed evidence and should ordinarily be adjudicated by a competent civil court under guardianship laws rather than through summary writ proceedings. "It would be in the interests of the minor child that if she knows her father and spends some time with him," the bench said while disposing of the petition.