In a unique custody case, the Bombay high court removed a boy from his mother’s care after the 11-year-old told judges that although he loved both parents equally, he wanted to live with his father.
The division bench observed that in custody battles, the "wishes of the child must override all other considerations". Justice Ranjana Desai and R P Sondurbaldota interviewed the boy in their chambers and found that "for his age he showed a good amount of maturity". They also noticed how "stressed he was because of the discord between his parents". The boy’s name has been witheld to protect his identity.
The battle has been a bitter one. The mother, who has had custody of her son since her talaq in 1999, said the only reason he wanted to move was because the father was "extremely rich and offered him a very good lifestyle".
The court acknowledged this and said that there was no doubt that the boy was drawn by the "comfortable lifestyle" of his father, a prominent real estate developer from Goregaon, but added that there were other reasons to be considered, such as the father-son bond.
The mother also pointed out that there were a number of civil and criminal cases pending against the father and that he had even been in two weeks’custody for an economic offence. Moreover, she said that her ex-husband was an Australian citizen and could easily take the boy out of the country and therefore should not be given custody.
The father, in his defence, said that he had been discharged from the cheating case and that the other matters were filed against him because he was the director of a real estate firm.