Supreme Court Denies Custody of Minor to Deceased Techie Atul Subhash’s Mother, Calls Her a ‘Stranger to the Child’.

New Delhi: In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court on Tuesday denied Anju Devi, the mother of deceased Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash, custody of her four-year-old grandson as she was considered a “stranger to the child.” Instead, the court suggested that she pursue alternative legal avenues for the same, even as it granted her visitation rights.

A bench of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and N. Kotiswar Singh observed, “The child is a stranger to the petitioner. If you wish, please visit the child. In case you want custody, there is a separate procedure.

Atul Subhash, 34, was found dead at his house in Munnekolalu, Bengaluru, on December 9, 2024. It seems to be a case of suicide. He allegedly left messages in which he had alleged harassment by Nikita Singhania, his wife, and her family. This prompted an FIR against them under Sections 108 (abetment of suicide) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Nikita, her mother Nisha Singhania, and brother Anurag Singhania were recently granted bail by a Bengaluru court.

Her wife had filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court regarding custody of their grandson, maintaining that a child below six years of age was too young for a boarding school. She furnished photographs of moments spent with him when he was little. Counsels of Nikita Singhania, the respondents, produced a report confirming that the minor was already present in a boarding school in Haryana.

Advocate Kumar Dushyant Singh, appearing for Devi, submitted that Nikita had intentionally kept the child’s whereabouts secret and that the child’s welfare was not being protected.

The bench said decisions on custody should not be coloured by media trials and directed the child to be brought to court at the next hearing, scheduled for January 20, 2025. The judges emphasized that custody issues should be dealt with in the trial court handling the related criminal case.

“We will take the child to Bengaluru,” the counsel for Nikita Singhania said while maintaining that she would stay back in the city for compliance of the bail conditions.

The order passed by the Supreme Court puts to the fore the nuances required in handling such cases involving conflicting rights of biological family members and welfare concerns of the child. The further course of the case on custody of the minor will be dictated by the hearing date.

This case brings with it a wider issue of the role of familial relationships, legal procedure that governs custody cases, and children’s emotional and psychological well-being when faced with contentious disputes.