Only love and care of the mother does not amount to best interest of the child
November 18, 2017In a recent judgement, the Delhi High Court while adjudicating over a child custody matter said that “best interest of child” does not only mean love and care of the mother. In the present matter, a woman has returned from United States with her child over the disputes between her and her husband. The court directed that the woman should return back to the United States keeping in mind the best interest of the child.
The bench comprising of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Deepa Sharma observed, the best development of child happens when the child gets to live with both the parents in a happy, loving and caring environment where the parents contribute to the upbringing of the child in all the aspects of the life. The child also receives emotional, physical, social and material support. Unfortunately, in a broken marriage some factor are certainly missing that are imperative to the best interest of the child.
The challenge before the court was to design a settlement in a way that it offers the best solution to achieve the best interest of the child.
The father of the child has filed a Writ of habeas corpus through Advocate Prabhjit Jauhar demanding the custody of the child. During one of the trips to India, his wife sought dissolution of marriage on the ground of cruelty. Further, she has also filed a petition under section 26 of the Act through Advocate Malavika Rajkotia seeking an order restraining the petitioner from taking away their minor child from India.
While deciding the custody issues the court observed that the paramount consideration should be given to the welfare of the minor child. The court observed that the decision of the wife to stay in India was driven by her personal choice and was certainly not in the best interest of the child.
While passing the order, the court observed that it was Chicago that was the natural environment of the child. The court held that child need his biological family to grow and the biological family cannot meet only one parent even if that parent happens to be the primary caregiver. Therefore, in the present matter, the custody of the child was given to the father.