SC gives mothers thier due in Guardianship Act

Justice U C Banerjee’s judgment assumes significance as he ruled on Wednesday that "the father by reason of a dominant personality cannot be ascribed to have a preferential right over the mother in the matter of guardianship since both fall within the same category".

Disposing of two petitions raising the same question whether mother could be regarded as a natural guardian of a child during the lifetime of his father, the Judge said, "It is an axiomatic truth that both the mother and the father of a minor child are duty bound to take due care ofthe person and the property of their child and thus having due regard to the meaning attributed to the word `guardian’ both the parents ought to be treated as guardians of the minor."

Other two judges of the bench, Chief Justice A S Anand and Justice M Srinivasan, agreed with Justice Banerjee but clarified that the judgment would operate prospectively.