RUSSELL MARK RODRIGUES Vs. CAROLINE DSILVA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Introduction: This is a case of child custody. As usual, the mother and the father have been staking their claim to the child's interim custody. A mother wants her two-and-a-half-year child's custody. For that, she sues her husband. The trial Court orders the child's interim custody to the mother. The father appeals. But he fails in that appeal. So he comes to this Court. Now, the then-two-and-a half-year child has grown to be five-year-old, almost. Does the lapsed time diminish or defeat the mother's claim? Facts:

(2.) To appreciate the controversy, I will set out the facts briefly. The petitioner and the respondent got married in May 2011. Later, they had a boy on 4 October 2015. From the date of their marriage till the date of the child's birth, the couple lived in Bangalore, both employed there. After that too, they lived a few more months in Bangalore.

(3.) Overtime, differences arose between the petitioner husband and the respondent-wife. It was on account of the petitioner's alleged extramarital affair. If we go by the petitioner's version, on 17 February 2018, the respondent locked herself in along with the child and tried to commit suicide by hanging to the ceiling. Then, the petitioner broke open the door and rescued his wife. The child, in fact, witnessed that traumatic event-the respondent's attempt to hang herself.