Guardianship of children by mother

When parents are separated through divorce, guardianship of their children is determined by the Gaurdian and Wards Act, 1890 and Family Court Ordinance, 1985. According to Family Court Ordinance 1985, a mother has the authority to take care of her children, if she is not remarried, lives far from child's father house, irresponsible to the child, lead immoral life, leave own religion, characterless, unbelievable etc.

It should be mentioned that a mother gets priority to have her children in her care if the boy is not yet seven and the girl is not yet prepubescent. After this tenure, if girl wants, she can stay with her mother up to 25 years old. And in the case of a boy, after twelve years the father has the legal right to keep the boy with him. But wherever the children live, the father is liable to maintain financial expenses.

In reality, when a separation occurs, it rarely ends happily. If children stay with their father he usually does not appreciate them to meet their mother. Contrarily, when children stay with mother, it is not unheard of the father trying to harass her directly or by way of her children.

There is no law to prevent such and only humanity is accountable here. Again, if the children stay with mother and father denies the financial responsibility, she has to go to the court which is a time consuming process to attain the right.

If the children stay with her mother without court's order, father is still the legal guardian. Without father's permission and/or photocopy of National ID of father, you can't do anything say it passport, national ID and any legal identification system. Since separation comes from dissatisfaction, such procedural difficulties can only create further problem.

The writer is Assistant Professor, Daffodil International University.