In an interesting case filed by an HIV + woman to have the custody of her child from her in-laws, the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of the woman.
An HIV+ mother cannot be deprived custody of her child, the Delhi High Court held asking in-laws of the widow to hand over the two-year old son to her.
When the counsel appearing for the in-laws contended that the custody of the child cannot be given to their daughter-in-law as she was an AIDS patient, Justice Geetha Mittal rejected the contention of the counsel saying that there is no law which can deprive a mother of her child because of AIDS.
The court also held that while the in-laws of the petitioner were only grand parents to the child, the petitioner is the mother. Moreover, the mother was already suffering and she should not be allowed to suffer more by depriving her the custody of her child.
The court rejecting the contention of the in-laws, Mr.Ram Gopal Varma and his wife Poolwati and other members of his family and directed them to bring the child before it on Tuesday so as to hand over the custody of the child to the mother.
The in-laws also pointed out that Sunitha Varma, their daughter-in-law was of bad character as she was suffering from the disease prior to marriage and it would have bad influence on the child.The court however took strong exception to the argument and said that the disease was not inflicted only through physical relation but it could also be transmitted due to blood transfusion.
It is unfortunate that after losing her husband she has been deprived of her child.She cannot be deprived custody of her child just like a convicted father cannot be deprived custody of his child.
Earlier, the 26 year old Verma was allegedly thrown out of her in-laws home barely 13 days after her husband died due to AIDS.
The woman, now living with her old and ailing parents at Sagarpur in
She was married to Satish Verma, Panipet, on June 20, 2005.Verma gave birth to the boy on July, 20, 2006.Her husband died at a private hospital in 2007.
One important point that was perhaps concealed by the in-laws was that it was their son Satish Verma was HIV + even at the time of his marriage with Sunitha Verma, in the year 2005 and Sunitha Verma had got infected with HIV + only from Satish Verma..It should also be noted that AIDS patients will suffer longer but will not die immediately .Satish Verma who had been suffering from AIDS for a long time had died in the year 2007, passing the disease over to his wife Sunitha Verma. But still it was the male chauvinism that blamed Sunitha Verma, as a woman of bad character.Had she contracted with the disease earlier, she would have died earlier.
Again the court has also acknowledged the scientific fact that by mingling with an HIV + person one will not be affected.
Leave Your Comments