SC: Keep cops out of custody battle of kid

NEW DELHI: Disapproving a family court's decision to involve police in a couple's custody battle of a minor child, Supreme Court Monday said that it is atrocious to engage police in such cases.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta termed the family court of Bhopal's directions unconstitutional as it asked the Gurgaon police commissioner to ensure that the child was handed over to the father who is residing in Madhya Pradesh.

In this case both the husband and the wife are doctors and are living separately for many years. The family court passed the order on a plea of the father who alleged that she had illegally taken the child from Bhopal without prior permission of the court and it was in clear violation of the condition imposed by the trial court in its order passed in 2022.

"The order is atrocious, unethical and unconstitutional. How can police be involved in a custody case? This is not the way to decide the case. What is the jurisdiction of a family court in Bhopal over the police commissioner of Gurgaon? Using police to get custody of a child is not acceptable," the bench said. It directed both the husband and wife to be present in court along with the child on Tuesday. The court said that it would interact with them in the chamber before passing any order.

The family court in Bhopal cancelled her guardianship and granted custody of the child to the father. The court found that the mother violated a previous consent decree by failing to provide the father access to the child, changing residence multiple times without informing him, and attempting to alienate the child from her father.

The Madhya Pradesh high court in Nov last year affirmed the family court's decision, citing the welfare of the child and findings from a Delhi high court Mediation and Conciliation Centre report, which indicated the child showed no distress with the father and that the mother's conduct was problematic.

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