SC to hear on Jan 20 plea by Atul Subhash's mother for custody of his son

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea filed by the mother of Atul Subhash, a Bengaluru-based engineer who committed suicide in 2024 alleging harassment by wife, seeking his minor son's custody.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Saish Chandra Sharma is likely to hear the plea by Anju Devi who has filed a habeas corpus petition, seeking the custody of her four-year-old grandson.

On January 7, the top court had denied her the minor's custody saying she was "stranger to the child".

Subhash, 34, who was found hanging at his house in Bengaluru's Munnekolalu on December 9 last year, purportedly left behind lengthy messages, blaming his wife and in-laws for pushing him to take the extreme step.

During the last hearing, the top court was informed by the counsel appearing for Subhash's estranged wife Nikita Singhania that the child was studying at a boarding school in Haryana.

Advocate Kumar Dushyant Singh, representing Devi, had sought the child's custody and alleged her estranged daughter-in-law had kept child's location under wraps.

He had argued a child below six years of age should not be sent to a boarding school and relied on photos to show the petitioner interacting with the child when he was only a couple of years old.

The apex court had then directed the child to be produced in court on the next hearing on January 20, and said the case couldn't be decided on the basis of a media trial.

A Bengaluru court on January 4 granted bail to Subhash's estranged wife, her mother Nisha Singhania and brother Anurag Singhania, in the abetment of suicide case.