Delhi high court gives child’s custody to grandparents

The Delhi high court on Tuesday gave custody of a minor girl to her maternal grandparents after her parents separated and had second marriages.

While handing custody of seven-year-old Kanika to her grandparents, justice Kailash Gambhir said, “Right from birth, the child’s custody was with her mother and her maternal grandparents. The child does not even recognise her father, who is fighting for custody. Since he [father] is a total stranger to the child, giving him visitation rights would not be in the child’s interest at this stage,” the court observed.

In the present case, Ritu and Naveen got married on July 2, 2001. In 2003, Kanika was born to them. Soon after, the relationship soured and the couple separated in 2007.

After a while, the duo got married again. Ritu left for New Zealand, leaving Kanika in the care of her grandparents.

“It is a settled legal position that the child’s welfare is of paramount importance to the court while deciding sensitive issues of custody and visitation. Undoubtedly, a prior mutual settlement cannot encompass termination of parental rights of the natural father, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that the child does not even recognise him and he has no existence in her life,” the court said.

“The intentions of the father cannot take precedence over the child’s well-being. The child, who is being brought up in a congenial atmosphere by her grandparents, cannot be uprooted as it will hurt her. The child cannot be made to suffer in the fire of shattered relationships and has the right to parenthood sans prejudice,” the court said.