Rajasthan High Court Grants Custody Of 2-Yr-Old Child To Widow Who Was Accused Of Abetting Husband's Suicide By In-Laws

Rajasthan High Court allowed a habeas corpus petition filed in relation to a 2-year-old by a widowed mother, accused of abetting the suicide of her husband by in-laws.

The division bench of Justice Inderjeet Singh and Justice Bhuwan Goyal ruled that mother being the natural guardian and in sound financial position as opposed to the respondent-grandparents was entitled to the child's custody.

The petitioner had filed the writ in relation to the illegal detention of her son by his grandparents. It was the case of the petitioner that her husband had passed away in a car accident in 2024, after which, she being appointed as a school lecturer, had left her matrimonial home to join her duty leaving the son with the grandparents. However, thereafter, the grandparents did not hand over the son's custody to her.

As opposed to this, the counsel for the respondents argued that the petitioner's husband had died in abnormal circumstances leaving behind a suicide note and blaming the petitioner for the same. It was argued that a criminal complaint had been filed in a court of competent jurisdiction against the petitioner which was still pending. In this light, the counsel submitted that the child was not safe in the custody of the mother and hence, should remain in the custody of his grandparents.

The Court did not agree with the submission of the respondents and referred to the Supreme Court case of Gautam Kumar Das v NCT of Delhi & Ors. in which it was held that no hard and fast rule could be laid down in relation to maintainability of habeas corpus petition in the custody matter of minor child, however, a common thread in all custody matters of minor child had been the paramount welfare of the child.

In this background, the Court observed that firstly, the mother was the natural guardian of the minor child, and secondly, she was a well-educated and financially sound lady, as opposed to the grandfather who was just 8^th pass, living in a rural area, and had no source of regular income. The Court held that in this light, the mother could very well take care of the child's welfare and his bright future.

The court also highlighted that no adverse status report was received about the mother in relation to the criminal complaint filed.

Accordingly, the petition was allowed and the court directed the grandparents to hand over the child's custody to the mother.

Title: Kusum Lata v the State of Rajasthan

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Raj) 233

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