In one-of-a-kind court ruling, the Orissa High Court ordered a woman to transfer the custody of her 15-month-old son to the child’s father, observing that the child will be negatively impacted if he continued to live with his mother.
The parents of the child are separated and the court ruling comes after the judges were provided with video evidence of the mother beating the child. The HC bench observed that it would be detrimental for the child’s mental and physical development to be brought up by his mother and that his psychology may be negatively affected.
A Division Bench of Justices S K Mishra and Savitri Ratho on Friday while allowing a writ of Habeas Corpus filed by one Chakradhar Nayak of Puri district directed his wife to hand over the baby boy to his father within seven days.
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"In case of her failure to do so, the police shall take appropriate steps in taking the child from the physical custody of the mother and handover the child to the father", the high court noted.
"We found from the video that the mother was mercilessly beating the infant on several occasions. Finding the cruelty, torture and assault to the small boy, we directed the police to secure the attendance of the mother along with the child", the high court said.
Married for over five years now, Chakradhar and Rosalin of Paika Sahi have had a disturbed marital life and on one previous occasion, the man was imprisoned briefly after his wife levelled allegations of dowry and domestic violence against him. The case was, however, closed and they were reunited following a court-initiated compromise.
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However, the marital discord once again surfaced after the child was born and the woman has since been staying with her parents along with the baby.
Having a retail shop at Bhubaneswar, Chakradhar is now staying with his sister and brother-in-law in the capital city.
(With PTI inputs)
