The Delhi High Court Monday said a person other than the natural parent/relative can be appointed as the guardian of a minor child. The court made this observation while appointing the director of a children’s home as the guardian to represent the legal rights of a girl who had been sexually assaulted by her father. The matter pertains to a 12-year-old girl and her nine-year-old brother, who were found abandoned near Dakshinpuri’s K-block park on April 12 last year. They were handed over to child welfare authorities, and counselled by the Child Welfare Officer the next day. The children said their father had been sexually assaulting the girl for a long time and was physically violent towards the boy. Their mother had remarried and abandoned them three years ago. The children said they did not want to return home. The officer filed a report before the Child Welfare Committee, which — after two orders placing the girl for a short term in children homes — finally transferred her for long-term custody until September 2017, in the Samarpan Home for Girls. Lavanya Anirudh Verma, director of the home, then made an application to the CWC to appoint her as the girl’s guardian, as per the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. After the CWC agreed, she filed another application before an additional sessions judge (ASJ) for inspection of records pertaining to her. Saying that the application for inspection for records had not been signed by the girl or her family, the ASJ dismissed the application in December 2016. The court also expressed doubt whether anyone other than the natural parent/family member can be appointed guardian. Lavanya then moved the Delhi High Court. Underscoring legal principles, Justice Mukta Gupta said, “The ASJ had ignored the various directions of the HC to appoint a guardian ad litem (a person appointed by the court to protect a child’s interest in proceedings affecting his/her interests). ASJ not only failed in its statutory and constitutional obligation but also failed to exercise its.jurisdiction for watching the best interest of the child.”
