Orissa HC asks woman to hand over baby to his father

Having a retail shop at Bhubaneswar, Chakradhar isnow staying with his sister and brother-in-law in the capitalcity.

The Orissa High Court hasallowed a man to take custody of his 15-month-old sonobserving that continuance of the custody of the toddler withthe mother, who is now staying separately, would bedetrimental to the child's mental and physical development andmay also affect his psychology negatively.

The court direction came after watching a video inwhich it is seen that the mother was repeatedly torturing andbeating the child mercilessly.

A Division Bench of Justices S K Mishra and SavitriRatho on Friday while allowing a writ of Habeas Corpus filedby one Chakradhar Nayak of Puri district directed his wife tohand over the baby boy to his father within seven days.

''In case of her failure to do so, the police shalltake appropriate steps in taking the child from the physicalcustody of the mother and handover the child to the father'',the high court directed.

''We found from the video that the mother wasmercilessly beating the infant on several occasions. Findingthe cruelty, torture and assault to the small boy, we directedthe police to secure the attendance of the mother along withthe child'', the high court said.

Married for over five years now, Chakradhar andRosalin of Paika Sahi under Gop police station have adisturbed marital life and on one previous occasion, the manwas imprisoned briefly after his wife brought dowry chargesand domestic violence allegations. The case was, however,closed and they were reunited following a court-initiatedcompromise.

The marital discord once again surfaced after thechild was born and the woman has since been staying with herparents along with the baby.

Later when Chakradhar learnt that Rosalin is torturingthe baby and beating the infant with an aim to settle scoreswith her estranged husband, he approached the high court witha habeas corpus writ petition seeking to take possession ofhis son. Having a retail shop at Bhubaneswar, Chakradhar isnow staying with his sister and brother-in-law in the capitalcity.