SC denies dead Bengaluru techie's mother custody of his minor son
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hand over the custody of the four-year-old son of Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash — who died by suicide last month allegedly due to harassment by his wife and in-laws – to the child’s grandmother, saying she was a stranger to the minor.
"Sorry to say but the child is a stranger to the petitioner. If you wish, please visit the child. In case you want the custody of the child, there is a separate procedure," a Bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice N Kotiswar Singh said.
The Bench, however, directed Atul’s estranged wife Nikita Singhania to produce the child in court on January 20 — the next hearing. The case can’t be decided on the basis of a media trial, it said.
While hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Atul Subhash’s mother Anju Devi urging the court to hand over the child's custody to her as she was the paternal grandmother of the minor, the top court said the issue of the minor's custody could be raised before the court conducting the trial.
Stating that the child was studying at a boarding school in Haryana, a counsel representing Subhash's estranged wife Nikita Singhania told the Bench that she has taken the child out of the school.
"We will take the child to Bengaluru. We have taken the boy out of school. The mother has to remain in Bengaluru to fulfil the bail conditions," the counsel said.
Advocates representing Haryana and Karnataka Governments confirmed that the child was in a boarding school in Haryana.
On behalf of the petitioner, advocate Kumar Dushyant Singh accused Nikita of keeping the child’s location under wraps. He said a child below six years of age should not be sent to a boarding school.
Showing photographs of the grandmother interacting with the child when he was only a couple of years old, Singh requested the Bench to hand over his custody to her.
Atul Subhash -- a 34-year-old software engineer who died by suicide in Bengaluru on December 9 – left a 24-page suicide note and an 80-minute video in which he accused his estranged wife and her family of slapping nine cases on him and his family to extort money from them.
On a complaint lodged by Atul’s brother, Nikita was arrested from Gurugram on December 15 while her mother and brother were arrested from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, the same day. They have been booked under Sections 108 (abetment of suicide) and certain other provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
A Bengaluru court on January 4 granted bail to Nikita, her mother Nisha Singhania and brother Anurag Singhania in the case.
In her petition, Devi sought to highlight the fact that the child’s biological father and natural guardian was no more and his biological mother Nikita Singhania and maternal grandmother – both were facing criminal cases and had been arrested.
Alleging that the minor was in illegal custody of some unidentified persons and she feared for the life and liberty of her grandson, Devi wanted the top court to order the authorities to produce the child.
