India News | Mother is Natural Guardian of Child Below Five Years: Allahabad HC

Prayagraj, Jan 16 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has observed that mother is the natural guardian of a child below five years of age and ordinarily, she would be allowed to have the custody of her minor child.

A bench comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Donadi Ramesh was hearing a plea filed by Amit Dhama. The petitioner approached the high court against a family court's order granting custody of his four-year-old daughter to his estranged wife.

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Dismissing the appeal, the high court said that even if the company of a child was given to the father at the time of separation, it would not deprive the mother of her right to custody of her child.

"Merely because the mother has been deprived of the company of her daughter at the time when the couple separated and fact that the daughter had continued to be in company of the father for sometime itself would not be sufficient circumstance to deny custody of the minor daughter to the mother who is her natural guardian," the bench said.

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"Various physical, emotional and psychological needs of the four-year-old daughter would be better protected in the care and custody of her mother," it said in its order dated January 10.

Dhama approached the high court against the order of the family court dated August 31, 2024 granting ex-parte custody of the four-year-old daughter to the mother-respondent. It was pleaded that the father was taking care of the daughter and there was no need to give her custody to the mother.

The high court noted that the parties were married in 2010 and have a son and a daughter. It also noted that the husband had filed a divorce petition while the wife filed for custody of the daughter.

The court was informed that the son was studying in a boarding school, and Dhama was paying expenses while the daughter was living with the father.

The court said that the argument that removing the daughter from the care of the father would be traumatic for her was unimpressive. It held that even though the transfer of the custody may cause psychological stress for the child, the interest of the parties had to be balanced.

It was observed that the mother was a graduate, living alone, and no allegations of harm happening to the daughter by the mother were made.

Holding that the mother can meet various needs of the daughter, the high court upheld the order of the family court.

However, the court gave both parents visitation rights.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)