Mother wins child’s custody after 14 years

NEW DELHI, November 5: The Supreme Court today ended 14 years of litigation both in the United States and India between a couple over the p...

NEW DELHI, November 5: The Supreme Court today ended 14 years of litigation both in the United States and India between a couple over the permanent custody of their son when it dismissed the husband’s plea that the wife had violated orders of the US courts granting him custody of the child in 1986.

“On the facts of this case, we are not inclined to grant temporary custody to the respondent husband Madhav Unde to take the child from India. That would affect the child’s studies and further there is an ex-parte order of the US court giving permanent custody to the father. If that order is executed by the respondent, there is a danger of the boy not returning to India thus frustrating any order that we are asked to pass giving temporary custody to him,” a Division Bench comprising Justice S M Majmudar and Justice Jagannadha Rao said in their 27-page order.

The boy’s mother Dhanwanti Joshi had knocked the doors of the apex court after a family court granted custody of the child to the husband in 1995 which was later upheld by the Bombay High Court despite the fact that the same High Court and the SC had dismissed earlier petitions by the husband seeking production of the child and permanent guardianship.

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The decision of the judges not to grant permanent custody to the husband now living in the United States followed chamber interviews of the 14 year old boy Abhijit who has been living with his mother ever since she “fled” from US with her son as a result of “certain compelling circumstances” on April 20, 1983 when the child was barely 35 days old.

The judges said they had found the child to be quite intelligent and able to understand the facts and circumstances in which he had been placed. He had informed the judges that he was not inclined to go with his father to the USA and that he wanted to continue his studies in India till he completed 10 plus two or graduation.