Bombay High Court has refused to grant custody of four boys to their Afghan grandmother. The children, born to an Indian woman and her Afghan husband, will continue to live with their mother in Maharashtra.
The mother, a resident of Kalyan near Mumbai, had married an Afghanistan national who was studying in India. After marriage, the couple shifted to Afghanistan. The children are Afghanistan nationals too.
Unfortunately, in 2018, when the woman was pregnant with her fourth child, her husband died in the bombing against terror that the country was facing.
“Anxious and apprehensive”
The wife then left Afghanistan with her children and came to stay in Kalyan with her parents and brother. She told the high court that she was “anxious and apprehensive about returning to a country where violence and danger to life are constant companions.”
Grandmother’s petition
The Afghan grandmother had filed a habeas corpus before the high court and said that she along with her other children would take care of the woman and her grandchildren. She claimed that they had a huge house back in Afghanistan and lived in better conditions than the woman.
The woman lives in a one-room home in Kalyan with her family. According to the grandmother, this is not conducive to bring up the children.
Mother’s arguments
In response, the woman put forth her bank statements and those of her brother who had promised to take care of her and her children. The woman’s father had passed away recently.
She did not want to be forced to go back to Afghanistan and said her children would have a better life in India. The woman told the court that the grandmother was already 79 years old and all her sons except one are residing in the United States of America.
Court’s decision
After hearing both the sides, the division bench of Justice S S Shinde and Justice Manish Pitale said, “We believe that on the test of best interest and welfare of the children, it would be appropriate that they continue in the custody of their mother. In any case, the custody of the children with their mother is neither illegal nor improper and therefore, we are not inclined to issue a writ of habeas corpus as prayed by the petitioners.”
The court noted that the eldest child is in first standard while the second is in kindergarten. The other two are yet to join school but the woman is “striving to give them the best that she can.”
However, the court granted visitation rights to the grandmother and aunt when they come to India. Weekly interactions between the grandmother and the children through video calling were also ordered.
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Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/cities/mumbai/story/bombay-hc-denies-custody-grandsons-afghan-lady-india-1794132-2021-04-23
