SC: Keep cops out of custody battle of kid | India News
NEW DELHI: Dismissing a family court’s decision to involve the police in a couple’s custody battle over a minor child, the Supreme Court on Monday said involving the police in such cases is brutal.A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta termed the Bhopal family court order unconstitutional as it asked the Gurgaon police commissioner to ensure that the child is handed over to the father, who lives in Madhya Pradesh.In this case both husband and wife are doctors and have been living separately for many years. The family court passed the order on a plea by the father who alleged that he had illegally taken the child from Bhopal without prior permission of the court and this was in clear violation of the order passed by the trial court in 2022.“The order is brutal, immoral and unconstitutional. How can the police get involved in custody cases? This is not the way to decide the case. What is the jurisdiction of the Bhopal family court over the police commissioner of Gurgaon? It is not acceptable to use the police to get custody of a child,” the bench said. Both husband and wife have been ordered to appear in court along with their children on Tuesday. The court said it would consult them in chambers before passing any order.The family court in Bhopal canceled her guardianship and awarded the custody of the child to the father. The court found that the mother violated the prior consent decree by failing to give the father access to the child, by changing residences multiple times without informing him, and by attempting to separate the child from the father.The Madhya Pradesh High Court upheld the family court’s decision in November last year, citing the child’s welfare and the findings of the Delhi High Court Mediation and Conciliation Centre’s report, which indicated that the child did not show any difficulty with the father and the mother’s behavior was problematic.
