HC stays session court’s order in custody case

The Delhi High court has put a stay on a session court’s order, which gave the interim custody of two children to their father, despite the former’s explicit unwillingness. HT reports

The Delhi High court has put a stay on a session court’s order (dated July 21), which gave the interim custody of two children to their father, despite the former’s explicit unwillingness.

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Earlier, the children had recorded their protest, on three separate occasions, against their father, in court, when they became aware of acts of domestic violence he had committed on their mother.

Sheila (name changed), a government employee and Ranjeet (name changed), an industrialist, got married in 1996. Prabhjit Jauhar, counsel for Sheila, in a petition filed in the Delhi High court, said, “The order has flouted the legal parameters of the Guardianship Act. The court did not consider the wishes of the children”.

Jauhar cited that the children, in an interview to a judge, had shown their disinclination to meet their own father.

“The judge noted that there is no finding that the children were either tutored or had been turned acrimonious by their mother,” Jauhar contended.

Sheila alleged in the petition that her daughter had developed suicidal tendencies, as she was unhappy meeting her own father.

She had even placed a psychologist’s report on record. The couple has two children a 13 year old girl and a six year old boy. High court judge Siddharth Mridual has fixed August 4 as the date for next hearing.