Court reunites child with mother

Declares father’s move to hand over child’s custody to friend as illegal

RAWALPINDI:

“There can be no better guardian for a child than his own mother, there is no substitute for the mother.” These were the remarks of a Rawalpindi Additional District and Sessions Judge with which he declared a father’s move to send his 10-year-old child over to a friend during his prison sentence as illegal and reunited the child with his mother.

A case of family dispute has been ongoing between the child’s mother and father. The court had previously ordered the husband to pay Rs1.8 million. Since he failed to pay the amount, he had been arrested by the family court and had been sent to Adiala jail for one year. During this time, the father, Muhammad Yusuf, handed over his 9-year-old son, Muhammad Umar to his friend, Muhammad Sajid instead of giving him over to the court bailiff.

The child’s mother, Ayesha Bibi, approached the court, and Additional District and Sessions Judge, Malik Noor Khan, ordered to recover the 10-year-old child from the custody of his father's friend.

The particulars of the family dispute case are that the couple got married in 2009 and has three children, twelve-year-old Sahar Umar, nine-year-old Mohammad Umar and six-year-old Ibrahim. The family judge issued the degree on February 15, 2022, ruling on a domestic dispute, after which the ex-husband and children’s father, Muhammad Yusuf disappeared.

The mother then filed a case for the expenses of the three children in the family court in Rawalpindi, which is currently under hearing, while in the execution case for non-payment of degree money, the court issued an arrest warrant for Muhammad Yusuf on April 29, 2024. He was arrested on May 18.

When he had appeared in the court, the ex-husband said that he would not pay the Rs1.8 million. After which the court sent him to Adiala Jail for one year. Meanwhile, he himself urged his friend to kidnap his son, Muhammad Umar. The court recovered the child with the help of Sadar Baruni police station.

After the court decision, the mother and son left for home under police security. The court declared that if the father wants to take the child back, he should take the legal route as taking away the child by force cannot be allowed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2024.