Mumbai, March 11 The Bombay High Court has ordered a man to hand over custody of his one-year-old daughter to his estranged wife, observing that the child's best interests lie with the mother as she is still being breastfed.
The woman was forced to leave her marital home after she was assaulted, and since her sister-in-law had taken away her daughter, she could not take the child with her, a bench of Justices S V Kotwal and Sandesh Patil noted in the order passed on Tuesday.
"The child is dependent on the mother for breastfeeding to some extent. This is an important consideration," the HC said.
The order was passed in a habeas corpus (produce the person) plea filed by the woman seeking custody of her daughter.
In her plea, the woman stated that she had to leave her marital home to protect herself after she was physically assaulted by her husband and sister-in-law last month.
Since then, her one-year-old daughter has been in her husband's custody.
According to the plea, the couple got married in 2023, and since then, the woman was subjected to physical, emotional, and mental abuse.
The woman sought a direction to her husband to hand over the custody of their daughter to her, as the child was still being breastfed and therefore needed her mother.
The man opposed the plea, claiming that his wife had left their home on her own and had refused to live with him.
He further stated that it would be in the best interest of the child to live with him as he was earning while his wife was not. According to the law, the father was also a natural guardian of the child, he said.
However, the high court noted that since he was working, he would not be in a position to care for the child and the woman, who is now living with her parents, would be in a better position to look after the infant.
The court also took note of WhatsApp messages sent by the man to his wife in which he used abusive and filthy language.
The woman's allegations that she was forced to leave her marital house because she was scared for her safety are credible, the HC said.
The woman's daughter was taken away by her sister-in-law, and hence she had not left the child willingly with her husband and his family, it noted.
In such matters, the best interest of the child has to be considered first, and in this case, the interest of the child is that her custody needs to be handed over to the mother, the HC said.
The bench directed the Vikhroli police in Mumbai to take steps to take the child's custody from the father and hand her over to the mother.