Unwed Mother Can Be Appointed Sole Legal Guardian Of Child: SC

06 July, New Delhi

In a ‘landmark’ judgment, the Supreme Court Monday said that an unwed mother can be appointed as the sole legal guardian of her child without the consent of the father.

A division bench led by Justice Vikramjit Sen said that the best interest of the child required to do away with the procedural requirement of issuing a notice to the father when a guardianship petition is moved.

The Apex court further made it clear that it was not required for the mother to reveal the identity of the father and include him as a party to the guardianship petition in certain cases.

The bench was adjudicating a plea by a woman, who preferred anonymity and is known only by the name of ABC’, had challenged the statutory necessity of involving the father of her child in a guardianship petition even though she never married him.

The bench also recalled the previous order of a guardianship court, which asked it to re-examine the plea of an unwed mother. She sought grant of guardianship without issuing notice to father.

The mother, a gazetted officer in the government, had contended before the Supreme Court that the man lived with her for hardly two months and wasnt even aware about the existence of child.

She challenged the formal necessity of disclosing the identity of the father and issuing a notice to him about the guardianship of child.

The Supreme Court said that the lower courts, including high court, had lost vision of the pending issue which needed examination and took decision on the matter without considering the welfare of the child