The Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that a child cannot be taken away from the mother solely because she has remarried, setting a clear legal position on child custody.
The court issued the observation while hearing a case concerning the custody of a nine-year-old child following the death of the father.
Court rejects custody petition
A three-member bench headed by Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi heard the petition, which sought to transfer custody of the child to the grandmother or maternal aunt.
The bench rejected the plea and ruled that handing over the child to the mother was lawful and in line with existing legal principles.
Justice Rizvi questioned the motives of the petitioners during the hearing. He asked why the uncle and aunt wanted custody and whether they had shown any concern about the child’s education or well-being.
He made it clear that a mother’s second marriage alone could not be grounds to deprive her of custody.
Property dispute raised in court
But the case also touched on a property dispute.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the mother had sold the child’s inherited share of property from the deceased father. Justice Rizvi asked whether the petitioners were equally interested in recovering the child’s share or only in gaining custody.
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He noted that an FIR had been registered against the mother and observed that bitterness and resentment appeared to surround the dispute.
The judge said the mother should have sought permission from the guardian court before selling the property. However, he stressed that the matter before the bench was limited to child custody.
“It seems that more importance is being given to the property than to the child,” Justice Rizvi remarked.
Earlier rulings upheld
The Federal Constitutional Court observed that all lower courts had already upheld the decision to grant custody to the mother.
After the father’s death, custody of the nine-year-old had legally passed to her, and no court had found grounds to reverse that decision.
Petition dismissed
The bench dismissed the petition in its entirety and maintained that the child’s handover to the mother was lawful.
The ruling reinforces the legal principle that remarriage alone does not disqualify a mother from retaining custody of her child.
