Mother can’t be denied child’s custody over second marriage, rules PHC

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has ruled that contracting a second marriage cannot be a conclusive ground to deprive a mother of the custody of her child. A single-member bench consisting of Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar declared that in custody matters the court was required to undertake an objective assessment of the minor’s existing circumstances, emotional attachment, settled environment, educational needs and comparative suitability of the proposed custodial arrangements. “It is a settled principle of law that, in determining the question of custody, the court must be guided primarily by the welfare, wellbeing and overall betterment of the minor, which take precedence over all competing claims and considerations, including the preferential rights asserted by either parent,” the bench observed.

While disposing of a revision petition of a resident of Kohat, the bench declined to grant him custody of his minor son, but allowed him visitation rights. The petitioner’s counsel contended that, following her second marriage, the respondent (minor’s mother) was no longer entitled to retain his custody. Bench declines custody to minor’s father, allows him visitation rights “This contention, however, cannot be accepted as an absolute proposition. The mere fact that a mother has contracted a second marriage does not, by itself, furnish a conclusive ground for depriving her of custody,” the bench ruled in its eight-page detailed order. “The ultimate object is not to vindicate the legal entitlement of one parent at the expense of the other, but to ensure an arrangement most conducive to the minor’s physical, emotional, psychological, moral and educational development,” the bench ruled. The petitioner and his former wife were blessed with a son, but owing to matrimonial discord,…