Child Custody — Father's Claim, Proof of Paternity · 1 December 2025
Ramakanta Majhi v. Santan Majhi: Orissa High Court Holds a Father Cannot Be Denied Custody for Not Producing the Child's Birth Certificate
High Court of Orissa · 2025 LiveLaw (Ori) 161; GUAP No. 03 of 2022
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The father married in June 2019 and the couple had a son, but the mother died of cardiac arrest shortly after the birth. The child was thereafter kept by his maternal grandfather, who allegedly did not allow the father even to meet him. The father petitioned the Family Court at Bhadrak for custody, and that court denied it on the ground that he had not produced a birth certificate to prove paternity.
Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra set aside the Family Court's order, holding that a father cannot be denied custody of his minor child merely because he failed to produce a birth certificate to prove paternity. The Court directed the maternal grandfather to hand custody of the child to the father, while allowing the grandfather to meet the child at the father's residence whenever he wishes.
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