Pune: In a significant ruling, the Saswad Court has ordered that custody of an 11-year-old boy be returned to his widowed mother, after a two-month separation caused by a dispute within the family.

The child's mother, Sujata, was forced to seek legal help after her mother-in-law, Nirmala, refused to return her son following Sujata's decision to remarry.

Sujata married Ramesh in 2010, and they had two children, Arnav and Arya. Ramesh passed away in 2015 due to illness.

After facing harassment from her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, Sujata moved to Pune in 2016 to live with her parents. She supports herself and her children by working, while her mother-in-law, Nirmala (names changed), lives alone in Saswad.

Sujata decided to remarry at the insistence of her parents. Upon learning of this, Nirmala called the children to her on May 24. When Sujata later went to bring the children back, as school was about to start, Nirmala refused to return Arnav, demanding that Sujata relinquish her claim to her late husband's property in exchange for the child's return.

Sujata filed a petition in the Saswad Court through Advocate Zinal Thakkar, requesting a search warrant to locate her son and regain custody. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court ordered on July 24 that custody of the child be returned to the mother.

Appeal for Stay Rejected

Nirmala filed an application requesting a 15-day stay on the order to appeal against the decision to return the child to his mother.

Advocate Thakkar opposed the request, arguing that since the child was unlawfully taken, keeping him with his grandmother for an additional 15 days would not be appropriate.

The court denied Nirmala’s request for a temporary stay and rejected her application to keep custody of the child for another 15 days.