'Moral bias': Kerala HC quashes child committee order, hands over one-year-old to breastfeeding mother

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has quashed an order of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) giving the custody of a one-year child to the father, and handed over the child to the mother.

The CWC had earlier given custody to the father after pointing out that the mother had chosen to stay with another person and not her husband after the birth of the child.

The High Court came down on the CWC, pointing out that breastfeeding is implicitly supported by the Constitution as the Constitution imposes a duty on the state to raise the level of nutrition.

The trouble started when the parents of the baby started living separately and according to the mother, she decided to separate from her husband on account of constant mental and physical harassment. Later she eloped with the step-father of her husband and her husband filed a missing person complaint before the police.

The police traced the wife and produced her before a local court which allowed her to go with the person she wants but asked the child to be handed over to the CWC, which gave the custody of the child to the father. The mother then decided to approach the high court.

In its order, the court ruled that "judged by the moral standards of the members, the petitioner may not be a good person, but that does not make her a bad mother. Personal moral values always result in biased judgments. Unfortunately, the order reflects nothing other than the moral bias of the committee members".

It added that the CWC should follow the general principles mentioned in Section 3 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and treat all persons with equal dignity keeping the best interest of the child in mind.

The court said that if the Committee follows these principles, there will be a marked difference in the decision-making process and the decisions. It further pointed out that due to the order of CWC, the baby had to be separated from her mother for almost one month.