While hearing a case, the Supreme Court has said that the courts considering the issue of habeas corpus cannot consider children as movable property and cannot transfer their custody without thinking about the impact it will have on them. Actually, a habeas corpus petition is filed seeking directions to present a missing person or a person taken into illegal custody before the court. A bench of Justice A.S. Oka and Justice A.G. Masih said that such issues have to be dealt with on humanitarian grounds.
The bench said, when the court considers the issue of habeas corpus involving a minor, it cannot treat the child as movable property and cannot transfer custody without considering the effect of custody on the child. The Supreme Court gave its verdict in a case related to the custody of a two year and seven month old girl. Her mother died untimely in December 2022 and she is currently with a relative on her maternal side.
The decision of Madhya Pradesh High Court was challenged
A petition was filed in the Supreme Court challenging the June 2023 decision of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which directed the custody of the girl to be handed over to her father and grandparents. The bench said that in July last year, the apex court had stayed the implementation of the High Court’s decision. The Supreme Court said that the High Court was dealing with the case of custody of a girl child who was living in her maternal grandparents from a young age after the death of her mother.
Child’s well-being most important- Supreme Court
The court said that as far as the custody of the child is concerned, the only important thing is the welfare of the child and the rights of the parties cannot be allowed to prevail over the welfare of the child. The court said, the girl has not seen her father and grandparents for more than a year. At the young age of two years and seven months, if the custody of the girl is immediately handed over to the father and grandparents, the girl will be unhappy, as the girl has not met them for a long time. The Supreme Court said that whether the father has the right to custody or not is a matter to be decided by the court, but certainly, even assuming that he is not entitled to custody, at this stage, he is entitled to meet the girl. The bench said, “We propose to direct the petitioner to allow the father and grandparents of the girl to meet the girl once every fortnight.”