Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Monday ruled that Angshuman Dey, an 18-month-old child of Tangail, will remain in the custody of its maternal aunt Shova Rani Guho until further order.
The court also exempted Nure Alam Siddique, Executive Magistrate of “Ka” region of Tangail, from personal appearance before this court in connection with the issue.
On Monday, the HC fixed May 6 for further hearing on the writ petition filed by Jeba Rani Dey, mother of the child, challenging the legality of Executive Magistrate Nure Alam’s order who on March 21 ordered that Angshuman would be in the custody of Shova Rani.
The HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Zafar Ahmed passed the order after hearing the writ petititon.
Advocate Md Oziullah, the lawyer for the Magistrate Nure Alam said, “The HC issued a status quo on the Magistrate’s order which means that the baby will remain in the custody of Shova Rani until HC further orders.”
During the proceeding, Justice Naima Haider took the child Angshuman in her lap and fed it chocolate which is a rare incident at the HC.
Magistrate Nure Alam, the child’s mother Jeba Rani Dey, its maternal aunt Shova Rani and her husband Biplab Guho appeared in the HC along with the child as per its earlier order.
Jeba Rani became ill after giving birth to Angshuman in October 2016. Shova and Biplab used to visit Jeba at her home at Chandshi village of the district and often took Angshuman to their home. They would return the child after some days, Jeba’s lawyer S M Rezaul Karim earlier told.
Couple of months ago, Shova and Biplab refused to return the baby. Jeba applied for custody of the child to the Executive Magistrate on January 16 this year.
On January 18, the Magistrate passed an order and gave the baby’s custody to his mother Jeba. But during another hearing on the case on March 21, the same Magistrate ordered Jeba to give the baby to Shova’s custody. Then Jeba filed a writ petition with the HC challenging the legality of the Magistrate’s order.
