Father Has To First Build Confidence In The Child: Supreme Court While Granting Child Custody To Maternal Grandparents

The Apex Court was considering an appeal filed by the maternal grandparents of the minor child, alleging non-compliance of an earlier judgment. The mother of the child (daughter of the petitioner) was no more, and the grandparents were looking after the child.

The Division Bench of Justice J. B. Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran held, “Considering the overall circumstances, we are of the opinion that the child should be handed over to the grandparents. The maternal uncle was allowed to take the child from this Court. We make it clear that insofar as the claim for maintenance, the grandparents would be entitled to pursue the same in accordance with law. As far as visitation rights are concerned, the father has to first build confidence in the child and if the child also desires, the father may be allowed to visit the child, once in three months but under strict supervision of the grandparents or maternal uncles.”

“We quite realize that we were dealing with a contempt case but after interacting with the child, we were of the opinion that exercise of the parens patriae jurisdiction is expedient, under which, we have passed the above order”, it added.

Advocate Pankaj Sharma represented the Petitioner while AOR Nishant Verma represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The child having been separated from the father in 2021, the Court had directed the custody to be continued with the grandparents till April 30, 2025, till the end of the academic year. The father was allowed to familiarise himself with the child during the said period on alternate weekends and was also permitted to take the child to his paternal house on the second Saturdays. The custody of the child was then given to the father, one of the respondent contemnors. The grandparents were also given visitation rights, post handing over of the custody, permitting them to take the child to their house on every second Saturday, starting from June 2025.

The paternal grandfather had deposited an amount of Rs 10 lakh in the child’s name and also had taken out a life insurance policy of Rs 25 lakh, the beneficiary of which was the minor child. The father was holding a responsible position in the administrative services of the State, and had remarried. The contempt petition was filed, alleging that the child was not even once sent to the grandparents. The father raised a contention that the grandparents also did not come to take custody of the child on the second Saturdays. The father had now moved from the earlier location due to a transfer, which was said to be far from the house of the grandparents.

Reasoning

On an interaction with the child, the Bench held that the interest and welfare of the child would be best served if he was allowed to be looked after by his grandparents. The Bench noticed that the three maternal uncles of the child also reside with his grandparents, one of whom submitted before the Court that the child had obtained admission in one of the prestigious institutions and even the fees were paid when the order was passed handing over the custody of the child to the father.

The Bench was of the view that the custody of the child should be handed over to the grandparents. According to the Bench, the father had to first build confidence in the child, and if the child also desired, the father might be allowed to visit the child, once in three months.

The Bench thus closed the Petition with the abovementioned directions.

Cause Title: A v. B (Neutral Citation: 2026 INSC 818)

Appearance

Petitioner: Advocate Pankaj Sharma, AOR Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Advocate Jasleen Kaur

Respondent: AOR Nishant Verma, Advocate Paridhi Maheswari, AOR Arup Banerjee, Advocates Noopur Dubey, Shiv Pratap Singh, Kumar Rupak, Sanjeev Sharma

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