Deceased Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash.
Credit: X/@pranavmahajan
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday granted custody of the four-year-old son of the Bengaluru-based techie, Atul Subhash, who died by suicide in December, to his estranged wife, Nikita Singhania.
The top court dismissed the plea moved by Anju Devi, the mother of deceased Subhash, seeking a direction for the custody of her grandson.
"We are not entertaining the plea of the grandmother (of the four-year-old child)," a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said.
Before passing the order, the bench had a brief interaction with the child via video link.
The court noted that the boy had spent minimal time with his grandmother and thereby, should remain with his mother, considering his "best interests and well-being".
"We direct that the child's custody should be with the mother at present," the top court said in its order.
At the beginning of the hearing, the petitioner sought a week's time to file a more detailed affidavit in the matter.
However, the bench made it clear that the court is not willing to entertain any such request.
"This is a habeas corpus (petition), we want to see the child, produce the child," the bench told the parties that it will take up the matter after sometime.
The counsel appearing for Singhania said he would produce the child within 30 minutes. After a break of 45 minutes, the boy appeared on a video link, but at that time the court went offline.
On January 7, while dealing with habeas corpus plea filed by his mother Anju Devi, the bench had said the child is a stranger to his grandmother and made it clear that Singhania is yet to be proven guilty and the matter cannot be decided on the basis of a media trial.
Before his death, Subhash left behind a video and written notes alleging harassment and false accusations from his wife and in-laws, triggering massive outrage across the country over misuse of dowry prohibition laws.
His mother Anju Devi sought the custody of her grandson whose whereabouts were then unknown following the arrest of her daughter-in -law and her family members.