Minor girl can't be treated as 'chattel': Supreme Court
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court set aside an Orissa High Court verdict, which allowed a 14-year-old girl's custody of her biological father, saying that the child cannot be treated as "chattel". The court observed that the girl is living happily with her paternal aunt, PTI reported.
The top court was hearing an appeal by the paternal aunt- father's sister- challenging the high court order. The court said that the stability of a child is of "paramount importance", noting that the child had been living with the sister of her biological father since she was three months old.
In the order, the court said that it had interacted with the child, and she said that she was happy living with the present family and did not wish to be "destabilized".
The Supreme Court noted that when the child's custody was given to the man's sister, she was unmarried, but now she has two children.
The court noted that though when the child's custody was given to the aunt, she was unmarried, and now she has two children, it was not a deterrent to the court's verdict as the child categorically voiced her desire to continue living with her aunt.
"Keeping in view her age at present, she is capable of forming an opinion in that regard... She cannot be treated as a chattel at the age of 14 years to hand over her custody to respondent No. 2 (biological father), where she has not lived ever since her birth. The stability of the child is also of paramount consideration," the Supreme Court said.
The mother of the girl in question birthed twins in 2014, and the couple kept one of them with them and gave the other to its maternal grandmother. She kept it for three months and later gave the baby to her paternal aunt. The baby lived with her till the Odisha High Court order.