natural guardian Archives

“Gender-sensitive, emotionally intelligent, & child-centered judicial approach required in custody of minor girls”: Allahabad HC grants minor daughter’s custody to mother

“The principle that the father is the natural guardian of the minor child-boy or unmarried girl, and after him, the mother is primarily derived from section 6 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, though seminal at its time. Now it smacks patriarchal bias, therefore, become obsolete in the progressive realities of 21st- century in India”

Case Briefs High Courts

‘Mother equal natural guardian, cannot be implicated in kidnapping her child’; P&H HC dismisses uncle’s habeas corpus plea for custody of 12-year-old nephew

The Court noted that the mother, who ordinarily resides in Australia, merely responded to the distress call of her child who was left with the house help by his father while he was on a business trip.

Case Briefs High Courts

‘Student’s right to travel abroad by issuance of passport cannot be scuttled merely because father did not grant consent’; Bombay HC directs Passport Officer to consider application by mother

The right to travel is required to be not only recognized but made more meaningful, which can be achieved and supported by authorities implementing the provisions of the Passport Act, 1967 by effectively recognizing contemporary needs in dealing with passport applications.

Case Briefs High Courts

Whether a father can be booked for offence of kidnapping for taking away his own minor child from the custody of the mother? Karnataka HC answers

Perusing relevant provisions of Guardianship Act, the Court pointed out that a father is a natural guardian of a minor in the absence of any order otherwise passed by a Court of competent jurisdiction.

Case Briefs High Courts

Welfare of the child in custody matters is foremost; Delhi High Court appoints maternal grandparents as ‘guardians’ of minor

In the matters of Guardianship and Custody, the dilemma is that the logic may say that the child must be in the custody of his father, but the circumstances and the intelligent preference of the child point out that it is not in the interest and welfare of the child to uproot him from the family where he has been happily entrenched since the age of 1½ years.

Case Briefs High Courts

Andhra Pradesh High Court quashes kidnapping proceedings against father proclaiming to be the lawful guardian of minor children under Mohammadian Law

The Andhra Pradesh High Court referred to Section 361 IPC and stated that taking of a minor out of the keeping of the lawful guardian does not make the father criminally liable for kidnapping since the parties were governed by the Mohammadian Law.

Case Briefs High Courts

Bound to protect Constitutional Rights of women, Calcutta High Court regularises domestic violence application filed by minor

The Court held that application filed by minor under Section 12 of Domestic Violence Act cannot be dismissed on the grounds of maintainability especially when she had attained majority before the date of final order.

Legal RoundUp Supreme Court Roundups

Supreme Court July 2022 Roundup| PMLA constitutional; Bail Act; Abu Salem’s scheduled release; Unmarried women’s right to abortion; and more

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Case Briefs Supreme Court

Mother, being the only natural guardian after biological father’s death, can decide child’s surname; can even give the child in adoption: SC

“When a child takes on to be a kosher member of the adoptive family it is only logical that he takes the surname of the adoptive family and it is thus befuddling to see judicial intervention in such a matter.”