Kerala High Court appoints separate lawyer to represent child in custody battle between mother and father

In a first, the Kerala High Court on Friday appointed a separate lawyer to represent a child in a child custody case..The High Court took the decision after noting that with both the parents fighting for the custody of the child, there was no one to protect the interest of the child.A division bench consisting of Justices A Muhamed Mustaque and Sophy Thomas was considering a child custody case filed by the father (petitioner) seeking custody of his youngest child.The petitioner was a practicing lawyer who had three children with his estranged wife.The custody of the first two children was assigned to the father by the family court on finding that both of these children were molested by their maternal grandfather.The petitioner’s counsel further submitted that there were medical records indicating that the youngest child was molested by the mother and that there was a case registered against her under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act)..Earlier, during the hearing in another child custody case, advocate Parvathy Menon, the Project Coordinator of the Victim Rights Centre, had told the Court that appointing independent counsel for children would help to protect their best interests, which would otherwise be lost in heated disputes between the parents.The suggestion was made in view of the fact that while the law of custody prioritises the "best interests" of the child, children generally do not have the right to have their views regarding their interests presented before the court..The High Court implemented the said suggestion in the present custody case..The father of the child was represented by advocates Jamsheed Hafiz, KK Nesna, and TS Sreekutty.The mother of the child was represented by advocate Fathima Beevi.