The Supreme Court recently granted a father custody of his child, ruling that maternal grandparents do not have a stronger claim than the father, who is the child's natural guardian.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and K Vinod Chandran heard a father's appeal against the High Court's rejection of his habeas corpus petition. The High Court had denied him custody of his child, who had lived with him for nearly 10 years until the mother's death, after which the child was placed with the maternal grandparents. The High Court’s decision was based on the child's comfort with the grandparents and the father's remarriage.

Following this, the father appealed to the Supreme Court.

“We cannot but observe that the learned Single Judge has not endeavored to elicit the child's attitude towards his father. Admittedly, the child, after his birth, was with his parents for about 10 years till the death of his mother. He was separated from the father in 2021 and has been living with his grandparents, who cannot have a better claim than the father, who is the natural guardian. There is no allegation of any matrimonial dispute when the mother of the child was alive nor a complaint of abuse perpetrated against the wife or son. The father, the natural guardian, we reiterate, is well employed and educated and there is nothing standing against his legal rights; as a natural guardian, and legitimate desire to have the custody of his child. We are of the opinion that the welfare of the child, in the facts and circumstances of this case, would be best served if custody is given to the father.”, the court observed.

Consequently, the Court granted custody of the child to the father (the appellant) while also allowing visitation rights to the maternal grandparents.

Case Title: VIVEK KUMAR CHATURVEDI & ANR. VERSUS STATE OF U.P. & ORS.

For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Gopal Jha, Adv. Mr. Nishant Verma, AOR Mr. Jitendra Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Amitabh Ranjan, Adv. Ms. Samiksha Sharma, Adv. Mr. Manish Kumar, Adv.

For Respondent(s) : Mr. Arup Banerjee, AOR Mr. Priyanshu Raj., Adv. Mr. Amitabh Poddar., Adv. Mr. Rajiv Agnihotri, Adv. Mr. Kumar Rupak., Adv. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv. Ms. Saroj Tripathi, AOR