Fri Dec 13 06:44:14 UTC 2024: ## Bombay High Court Rules Preventing Mother from Seeing Child is Cruelty
**Mumbai, India** – The Bombay High Court has ruled that preventing a mother from seeing her child constitutes cruelty under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court rejected a petition to quash a First Information Report (FIR) filed by a woman against her in-laws for this very reason.
The court bench, comprising Justices Vibha Kankanwadi and Rohit Joshi, stated that keeping a four-year-old girl away from her mother amounts to mental harassment and cruelty, significantly impacting the mother’s mental health.
The case involved a woman from Jalna district, Maharashtra, who filed a harassment case against her in-laws in 2022. Her in-laws subsequently petitioned the court to dismiss the case. The High Court, however, ruled that their actions fell under Section 498-A of the IPC, which pertains to cruelty and harassment. The court refused to interfere, stating that the FIR could not be quashed. The judges also commented on the rising number of mental harassment cases.
The woman married in 2019 and gave birth to a daughter in 2020. She alleged that her husband and in-laws subsequently harassed her for dowry, subjecting her to both physical and verbal abuse. In 2022, they forcibly removed her from the home, keeping their granddaughter with them. The woman petitioned a magistrate court for her daughter’s return, and the court ordered the child’s custody be given to the mother. However, the in-laws defied the court order. The High Court considered this defiance in its ruling, stating that it would not provide relief to those who disregard court orders. The High Court’s decision underscores the legal repercussions of actions that deny a mother access to her child.
First Piper 