Mother won't beat up her own child, says Bombay HC; grants bail to woman in assault case

There is a matrimonial dispute between the complainant father and the accused mother due to which the child has been suffering and has become a scapegoat, a single bench of Justice Milind Jadhav observed.

No mother would beat up her own child, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday said while granting bail to a 28-year-old woman arrested along with her partner for assaulting her seven-year-old son.

There is a matrimonial dispute between the complainant father and the accused mother due to which the child has been suffering and has become a scapegoat, a single bench of Justice Milind Jadhav observed.

The boy’s medical reports show that he suffers from epilepsy and regular seizures, and is malnourished and anemic, the court said. Various medical papers show the accused mother has taken trouble to provide care and support to the child, it noted.The woman was arrested in October 2023, and has been in custody since then.

An FIR was lodged in Mumbai following a complaint by the minor boy’s biological father, who alleged that his estranged wife and her partner had on several occasions physically assaulted the child and once even attempted to kill him. The complaint lodged with the Dahisar police in Mumbai also alleged that the woman’s partner had sexually assaulted the boy. The high court, however, said prima facie all the allegations were unbelievable.

"No mother can be thought of beating her own child,” the HC said while granting bail to the woman on a personal bond of Rs 15,000.The court also noted that the police had failed to follow mandatory provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code pertaining to informing the grounds of arrest to the accused in the case.As per the complaint, the boy was living with his father in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri after his parents separated in 2019.In 2023, the woman, however, forcibly came and took the child to Mumbai.