VADODARA: A Bangladeshi woman living in
Godhra
fought an 18-month legal battle to win
custody
of her four-year-old daughter from her mother-in-law.
Gujarat HC ordered Tasnim Presswala's mother-in-law on Friday to hand over the child to her within two days. HC said mother cannot be deprived of her right to custody of her child merely because she does not hold Indian
citizenship
.
Tasnim had married Habib Presswala in 2017 and gave birth to twins in 2020. While her son died within two days, her daughter survived. In Nov 2021, Habib died by suicide, after which she went to her mother's home for the "iddat" period (waiting period a Muslim woman must observe, under Islamic law, after a divorce, or after the death of her husband, during which she may not remarry).
"Her mother-in-law, Saifiya Presswala, convinced her to leave her daughter with her. But when Tasnim returned to take custody of her daughter, Saifiya refused to hand over the child," said advocate Hitesh Gupta, who represented Tasnim in HC.
Tasnim then approached a Godhra court seeking custody of her daughter. Her mother-in-law gave an undertaking that she would hand over the girl to Tasnim. "But the mother-in-law disappeared and filed a revision application in the sessions court. This application, too, was dismissed. The court issued a search warrant for the child. In 2022, Saifiya then filed an application in HC seeking a stay on the warrant," Gupta told TOI.
HC stayed the search warrant, and Tasnim moved an application to seek visitation rights to meet her daughter. "HC granted her visitation right to meet her daughter once a week but Saifiya didn't allow Tasnim to meet her child. Tasnim filed an application in HC to vacate the stay on the search warrant. She also approached SC which directed HC in Aug last year to decide on the stay order issue within two weeks," he added.
Tasnim's in-laws claimed she had abandoned her child. Saifiya's advocate also argued that Tasnim is a Bangladeshi citizen and her passport hasn't been renewed. This means deportation could not be ruled out. However, the HC said Tasnim was settled in India for 38 years. "The HC also said as per Muslim personal law, the mother is entitled to the child's custody till puberty," Gupta said.
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