Custody of A Child -Its Legal Aspects

Abstract

In modern society divorce has become rampant and the bad effects of that is that where do the children go or with whom do the children live with. During any breakdown of marriage, the custody of children is an important question to be resolved. It is said “the child needs a mother the most, but it needs a father too”. The question that arises is does the Indian law believes this? Is it that the law believes that the child has a good future just with the mother? Is it possible that the mother can always be the right person in the life of the child? There are instances when both the parents want the custody of the children and also when none of the parents want the custody of the children. There have been cases where the Supreme Court has decided that even when mother is carrying on illicit, illegal profession the custody is given to her. Issues also arise when there are foreign jurisdictions and foreign Court judgements involved. Further, there are matters where the spouse is facing the criminal charges for the murder/ abetment of murder of the other, then who should be handed over the custody. The Courts have also look into the aspect of working mothers while deciding on the custody as they may not have time for the children. The Courts while granting the custody has to look into second marriages of one or both the partners. Many times the child prefers to alienate himself from both the parents as he is fed up of the fights. Then, there is a bigger issue of ego clashes between the parents and where they both are harming the child without realizing it. This paper remaps the different legal aspects of custody of a child. The paper discusses the Indian laws regarding the child custody. The custody of the child affects the child emotionally and psychologically. The child is caught up in between the parents, its difficult for him/her to choose one over the other. In the quarrels the couple forgets that the child is suffering. The paper explores the legality of custody of a child in India. It brings out the hardships of the parents who have become slaves of the law and therefore research paper asks a simple question are we even able to give basic human rights or justice to the parents. Justice can be done to either the father or mother but not to both and hence justice can be done to just of them and other one is deprived of it. This paper looks into the laws regarding the custody of the child in India, the amendments required to remove the superiority of one parent over the other and the kind of impression that is left by the law on the child. And finally the paper discusses the factors considered by the Courts when granting custody. Children many times become very aggressive because of the fights of the parents over the custody issue and many criminals are born, they take into drugs and other vices and innocent children become criminals after facing the hardships. It becomes very difficult for such children to survive in the society. The children are also not accepted in the society easily.