Grandmother shares special bond with child but can't replace parents: Bombay High Court

Bombay High Court.

Although a grandmother shares a special bond with her grandchild, it cannot replace the natural bond he has with his parents, said the Bombay High Court (HC) on Wednesday and directed a Nashik resident to hand over the custody of her 12-year-old grandson to his parents.

The couple had moved HC earlier this year as the child's maternal grandmother refused to let him go.

The parents stated that the child's mother had been unwell and had been advised bedrest. So, in 2019 she and the child temporarily shifted to Nashik to stay with her mother, stated a report in Hindustan Times.

The child was admitted to a school in Nashik and after recuperating, the woman and child were ready to return to Pune for the 2020-21 academic session, but could not in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, the woman returned to Pune whereas the child, by then admitted to an international school at Pune, was undergoing lessons online while staying in Nashik.

However, when the couple later went to bring him back, his grandmother refused to part with him. She even approached police and the child welfare committee, claiming that there was a matrimonial dispute between the parents, which was adversely affecting the 12-year-old. The grandmother stated that it was in the best interest of the child that he stay with her.

The couple then moved HC for custody of their child.

A bench comprising justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale accepted their contention, holding that "the ordinary comfort of the child, his contentment, health, education, physical, moral and intellectual development, upbringing and well-being, as also his future certainly lies with his parents."

The judges also took note of the facts that the father was an electrical engineer at a senior post in a multinational company, whereas the grandmother did not appear to be educated and her financial condition also did not appear to be sound.