It Is Secured: Allahabad High Court Allows Custody Of Minor Child To Mother, Not Father

Allahabad HC Custody Of Minor: The Allahabad High Court has held that mothers are best suited to take care of very young children.

A petition filed by Preeti, who sought custody of her minor child from her husband, argued that she is forbidden to meet her three-year-old son and that the minor was under the "unlawful" custody of her husband/in-law. On Monday, the Allahabad HC was hearing the case of parents litigating over the custody and ruled in favour of the mother saying that a child's welfare to be better secured in the mother's hand Bar and Bench reported.

Allahabad HC Custody Of Minor:

Child’s welfare is better ensured
in the hands of the mother than the father: Allahabad High Court grants custody of minor to motherhttps://t.co/OWuwsqJUk3

— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) February 22, 2021

The court’s decision was on the grounds that even though the father is considered the natural guardian, the custody of a minor, who has not completed the age of five years, ought to ordinarily be with the mother.

While ruling for the mother, the Court observed, "It is the precipitate wisdom of generations that a young child's welfare is better ensured in the hands of the mother than the father, or for that matter, anyone else. It is in keeping with this transcendent experience of mankind that the proviso to Section 6(a) of the of 1956 reserves to the mother the right to the child's custody until the age of five years," Live Law reported.

The mother, who was a working woman, went on to claim that her husband left his job in 2017 and the financial responsibility to run the household fell on her shoulders. She also claimed that she was harassed, abused and ill-treated during the period of time that they were together.

"There is a strong presumption about a child's welfare to be better secured in the mother's hand, which can be dispelled only by cogent and glaring evidence about the mother's lack of fitness to discharge her maternal obligations," the court observed.

The Court came to the conclusion after observing that the boy was still too young to choose a parent he would like to be with.