Mother cannot be asked to choose between child and career, says HC

The Bombay High Court quashed a family court order refusing a mother permission to relocate to Poland with her daughter

The Bombay High Court has recently noted, “A mother cannot be asked to choose between her child and her career” and quashed an order by the family court refusing her permission to relocate to Poland with her daughter.

A single Bench of Justice Bharati Dangre was hearing a petition filed by the wife assailing an order by the family court seeking permission to relocate and shift along with her minor daughter to Poland.

The couple got married in 2010 and had a daughter in 2013. According to the wife, her mother-in-law overburdened her with domestic work and she was not able to perform all of it as she was working as an engineer with a private company. She filed for dissolution of marriage in 2017 and sought to be declared as sole guardian of the child in November 2020 as the child lives with her.

Owing to her excellent performance, she has got an opportunity to move to Poland for two years and wishes to move there with her daughter and therefore filed applications to help her with all the formalities.

The application to move to Poland was strongly contested by the ex-husband, filed through advocate Ajinkya Udane. He said this was being done to sever his ties with the daughter. He said the daughter is impacted by the trauma of losing touch with her father and of being uprooted to face a completely new culture, surrounding, language and weather.

The order of Justice Bharati Dangre read, “I do not think that the court can refuse the job prospects to a mother, who is inclined to take up the job and she cannot be deprived of this opportunity. The option suggested by the husband that the child should be left with him and his family will take care of her is not a viable one, as the little girl has always stayed with her mother, barring for a few hours, when she was exclusively in the company of her father or his family. One thing is clear that the girl cannot be separated from the petitioner-mother.”

The court went on to say, “It is not uncommon for children to shift along with their parents, who decide to go abroad and, therefore, the apprehension that she will be uprooted is totally unfounded. It is also not uncommon for a working woman to leave her child in a day-care on account of her office responsibilities and here, the petitioner has specifically undertaken that her mother will be accompanying her so that she can cater to the child while the petitioner is out for work.”