A woman seeking to transfer her child custody case on claims of judicial bias was fined Rs 5,000 by the Delhi High Court. The court called her request “scandalous” and an attempt to undermine its authority. It ruled that if she was unhappy with the trial court’s decision, she should have legally challenged it instead of accusing the judge. The petition was dismissed, and she was ordered to deposit the fine within four weeks.
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NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court fined a woman Rs 5,000 for asking to shift a child custody case from one family court to another.
The court said she made this request on “scandalous grounds” by claiming the judge was biased. The court viewed this as an attempt to question its authority and dismissed her request.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma refused to transfer the case. He said that if the woman was unhappy with the trial court’s custody order, she should have challenged it through legal means instead of blaming the judge.
“The transfer on the basis of such ground is simply scandalous and with an intent to undermine the authority of the Court. The petitioner if, aggrieved by any order has all the right to challenge the same on the judicial side,”
-the High Court stated.
Earlier, a family court had allowed the father to meet his child twice a month in a designated children’s room at the court complex. However, the mother later accused the father of sexually abusing the child during one of these visits.
She filed a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act), but the father was acquitted.
After this acquittal, the family court suggested that the father could apply for temporary custody of the child.
The mother took this as a sign of bias and requested that the case be transferred to another judge.
Her request was first rejected in November last year by the Principal Judge of the Family Courts in Dwarka. The Principal Judge stated that even if the family court judge had advised the father to apply for custody, it did not mean the judge was biased.
The judge further said that the transfer plea had no merit and could damage the court’s reputation, so such requests should not be encouraged.
Unhappy with this decision, the mother then approached the Delhi High Court.
Her lawyer argued that the trial court judge had verbally refused to change the earlier custody arrangements even after she informed the court that the father had sexually abused the child.
However, the Delhi High Court found no valid reason to approve the transfer plea and dismissed the petition on January 27.
“There is no substance in this petition and therefore it is dismissed with the cost of Rs.5,000/- to be deposited with the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee, within the period of four weeks,”
-the court ruled.
The petitioner was represented by advocates Hemant Singh and Urvashi Jain.
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