Gujarat HC: Custody with grandparent not wrongful confinement under Muslim law
The Gujarat High Court has allowed a writ petition filed by a paternal grandmother and aunts of a minor girl, quashing orders from the trial Magistrate and Sessions Court that directed them to hand over the child's custody to her biological mother.
Justice M.R. Mengdey held that the lower courts had misinterpreted Muslim law. According to the petitioners, the mother abandoned the then 13-day-old child after the father's death, and the paternal family raised her. The mother claimed she was observing Iddat after her husband's death and the petitioners refused to return the child.
The High Court found that the lower courts failed to examine the actual legal question and wrongfully applied provisions of Muslim law and the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, when deciding custody matters.
