Guardianship — Mother as Natural Guardian · 17 February 1999
Githa Hariharan v. Reserve Bank of India: Supreme Court on the Mother as Natural Guardian
Supreme Court of India · (1999) 2 SCC 228
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The petitioner applied to the Reserve Bank of India for relief bonds to be issued in the name of her minor son, seeking to be recognised as his natural guardian for that purpose. The RBI declined to accept her application without the father's signature, relying on Section 6(a) of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, which names the father as the natural guardian of a Hindu minor, and the mother as guardian only "after" the father. The petitioner challenged this provision as discriminatory and violative of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution.
Rather than striking down Section 6(a), the Supreme Court interpreted the word "after" in the provision to mean "in the absence of" the father — covering situations such as the father's absence from the care of the child's person or property, his physical or mental incapacity, or an agreement or conduct showing that the mother is acting as guardian by mutual arrangement — and not merely after the father's death. This reading allowed a mother to act as natural guardian during the father's lifetime in appropriate circumstances, without requiring his consent, while preserving the statute's overall validity.
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