On Tuesday , the Bombay High Court witnessed  a dramatic scene when an 11-year-old child refused to go with his father despite an order given by the Court directing the maternal relative of the child to hand over the custody of the child to the father.

The child broke free from the father’s grip and ran back into the High Court building when the father attempted to take the child with him.

A scuffle also broke out between the maternal relatives and the father. Eventually, the Court sat again and castigated the lawyer appearing for the maternal relatives of the child.

After that, once again he ordered the maternal relatives to hand over the custody of the child to the father.

The father had moved for the custody of the child after the mother passed away in 2019 through a habeas corpus petition in the High Court.

He got an order in his favour from the High Court in February 2022 which was upheld by the Supreme Court in September 2022. 

However, since the order was not complied with, the father moved the present contempt of court petition.

The father claimed that the maternal grandfather and uncle were refusing to handover the custody of the child and tutoring the kid not to go with his father after his mother passed away three years ago due to cancer.

Around 2.30 pm, a division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and PD Naik passed an order in the contempt petition directing handover of the minor to the father in the High Court premises with the assistance of the police.

After this order was passed, when the father tried to take the child home, the child publicly opposed, screaming and tried to get out of the father’s hold.

A scuffle ensued between the grandparents and the father, the child broke free from his father’s hold and ran back into the High Court building.

The parties then approached the bench again which immediately took up the matter.The lawyer for the grandfather and maternal uncle of the child, advocate Imran Shaikh informed the Court about what had transpired.

He offered to show the videos that were recorded by the people standing outside the court but the bench refused to see. The Bench pulled up Shaikh for “over reaching the orders of the court and ill advising his clients”

“We are observing your demeanour for the last few hearings. That is why we are warning. You are overreaching,” the bench said.
They also warned the police personnel present in the Court of stern action in the event they failed to assist the Court for compliance with its order.

The Court then ordered that the minor be handed over to the father by the maternal relatives at the Kasturba Marg police station by 7 pm. 

The father’s counsel Advocate Akash Vijay then requested the court if the handover could take place at a police station closer to the father’s residence. 

But the court refused and said ,
“Not everything will happen according to your (the father’s) wish. He could take the order as is, or leave it!” the Court said.