Child's custody should be with mother even if she has a job:HC

Mumbai, Jun 22 (PTI) The western Indian state
Maharashtra's Bombay High Court has held that working women
take care of their children very well and the argument that
they do not get time to attend to kids cannot be a ground for
"disturbing" the custody of the child.
These observations were made by justices Vijaya
Kapse-Tahilramani and M L Tahaliyani who dismissed a habeas
corpus petition filed by a Nagpur resident seeking custody of
his five-year-old daughter from his estranged wife on the
ground that she had a full time job and would not get time to
pay attention to their child.
"Considering the age of the child, we are of the view
that keeping the child in the custody of the mother shall be
preferable than in the custody of father," the bench noted.
"It is not the case that the father is jobless and he
can whole day take care of the child. Working women take care
of their children very well and it should not be the ground
for disturbing the custody of the child," the judges observed.
The judges were hearing a petition filed by the
husband saying that his wife had deserted him after a fight
and had gone to her mother's house, taking along their minor
daughter. He urged the court to produce the child and hand
over her custody to him.
It was the case of the police that they had not
exercised any force and that the husband had forcibly taken
away his daughter's custody from the mother. They further said
that when they visited the petitioner's house along with the
latter's wife, the daughter rushed to meet her mother.
The police said that they had attempted to bring
about a compromise between the couple but could not succeed.