The Supreme Court has dismissed the petition filed by Anju Devi, the mother of Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash, who died by suicide after accusing his wife of harassment. The court ruled that the techie’s son would remain in the custody of his mother but noted that the grandmother may seek custody by approaching the lower court.

According to a report by NDTV, Justices BV Nagarathna and SC Sharma delivered the verdict denying a request from Subhash’s mother Anju Devi to grant her custody of her grandson. The judges spoke to the boy via video link before making their decision. After the hearing, the petitioner sought a week to file a more detailed affidavit. But Justice Nagarathna denied such a request, and stated, “This is a habeas corpus (petition). We want to see the child. Produce the child. The court will take up the matter after some time.”

After a 45-minute recess, the boy appeared via video link. To protect his identity, the court went offline except for the link with the child. Earlier, Singhania informed the court that the boy was enrolled at a boarding school in Faridabad, Haryana, but he would be withdrawn to accompany her to Bengaluru.

“We will take the child to Bengaluru. We have taken the boy out of school. The mother must be in Bengaluru to fulfill bail conditions,” her lawyer stated then following this, a bench of Justice Nagarathna and Justice N Kotiswar Singh ordered to bring the child in court for the next hearing.

Nikita Singhania and her family members—her mother, Nisha, and brother, Anurag—are accused of abetting the suicide of 34-year-old Atul Subhash. Both were arrested but later released on bail. After the arrest of Singhania, Devi appealed to the Supreme Court for custody of her grandson. Pawan Kumar, Subhash’s father, also publicly demanded custody of the child.

SC Court Directs To Resolve Custody Issues In Lower Court First

The petition alleged that Singhania and her family did not disclose the boy’s location. While Singhania claimed the child was with her uncle, Sushil Singhania, he later denied knowing the child’s whereabouts. In response, the court directed the governments of Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana to provide clarity on the situation.

The court noted that the child had spent very little time with his grandmother. Justice Nagarathna remarked, “Sorry to say the child is a stranger to the petitioner,” but added that custody issues must first be resolved in the appropriate lower court.

Atul Subhash and Nikita Singhania were married in 2019, and their son was born in 2020. Singhania left their Bengaluru home in 2021 after an altercation and later filed a case against Subhash and his family in 2022.

After two years of disputes, Subhash died by suicide in his Bengaluru flat on December 9. In an 81-minute video and a 24-page suicide note, he accused his wife, Singhania, and her family of filing false cases to extort Rs 3 crore and criticised the justice system for being biased towards women in such disputes. 

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