The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain the plea of Atul Subhash's mother, who sought the custody of the deceased Bengaluru techie's 4-year-old son.
While denying the custody of the 4-year-old, the top court bench observed that one parent of the child is alive and that Subhash's mother was "virtually a stranger to the child".
"He doesn’t know you at all. You’re virtually a stranger to the child. In the sense you have no familiarity," the Supreme Court bench was quoted as saying by India Today.
One of the judges told Subhash's mother that there is a separate procedure in case she wants the custody of the child. The top court also observed that the child would not be comfortable with Subhash's family.
Subhash's parents have been demanding the custody of their grandchild, while alleging they are unaware of the boy's whereabouts. They also raised concerns about the child's safety, fearing potential harm to the child's wellbeing if Nikita Singhania were to regain custody.
The Supreme Court also urged her to not call her daughter-in-law guilty till her crime was proved in court. "Not yet! It's not a media trial. Only a court trial can pronounce a person guilty," Justice BV Nagarathna said.
When the court asked about the child, the lawyer of Atul Subhash's wife Nikita Singhania said the child was in her custody and that she was granted bail last Saturday.
A Bengaluru court on Saturday granted bail to Nikita Singhania, her mother Nisha Singhania and brother Anurag Singhania in the Atul Subhash suicide case. Bengaluru police arrested the three of them from Uttar Pradesh on December 14.
The Karnataka High Court, however, rejected the plea seeking cancellation of the FIR filed against Nikita Singhania in connection with the suicide case. The bench said that the FIR provides enough material to file the case under the abetment of suicide.
The 34-year-old techie died by suicide on December 9 in Bengaluru, alleging harassment and torture at the hands of his estranged wife and her family.
In his 24-page suicide note, Subhash accused his in-laws of pressuring him to pay ₹3 crore for divorce. He also accused a family court judge of allegedly demanding a bribe to settle a maintenance case that his wife filed against him.