SC allows unwed mothers to have guardianship without father's consent
The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Vikramajit Sen recalled the earlier order of a guardianship court and asking it to re-examine the plea by the unwed mother seeking guardianship of the child without issuing notice to the father.
Father's consent is not required in giving guardianship of a child to an unmarried mother, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday.
The apex court bench headed by justice Vikramajit Sen said this while recalling the earlier order of a guardianship court and asking it to re-examine the plea by the unwed mother seeking guardianship of the child without issuing notice to the father.
The court said that the lower courts, including high court, lost sight of the issue that was before them to be examined and decided the matter without taking into account the welfare of the child.
The court order came on a petition by a woman who is a gazetted officer in the government. She had challenged the procedural necessity of disclosing the identity of the father and issuing notice to him on a plea seeking sole guardianship of the child by the unwed mother.
The mother had contended that the man stayed with her barely for two months and did not even know the existence of the child.
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