Wife is Best Guardian for her husband – Bombay HC

On 3rd September 2020, the Bombay High Court has passed a landmark ruling placing the wife in a position as a Guardian for her comatose (in the position of coma).  The Bombay High Court thereby affirmed that a spouse could be the best Guardian for his/her spouse and thus, appointed the spouse of a comatose man as his guardian for making it easier for her to access her husband’s finances to help to bear the costs of the family.

The judgment was passed by Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Milind Jadhav while observing that there was indeed a lack of legislative clarity about the question that who could be designated a guardian of a person in the state of coma or vegetative condition. Thus, the court relied on the principle of “parens patriae” as evolved in reference to the case Aruna Shanbaug and appointed the petitioner as her husband’s guardian.

FACTS OF THE CASE:

The Petitioner Rajni Hariom Sharma is the wife of Hariom Sharma who is in a vegetative state, showing no signs of his revival from a coma. Apart from her husband, the petitioner has two sons, one of whom is a minor, and a mother-in-law suffering from ailments. Her husband Hariom Sharmasuffered a cardiac arrest while jogging, leading to sudden unresponsiveness. And was later rushed to the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, where he underwent treatment including surgeries for three months from which he could not recover, though his condition stabilized after three months.

ARGUMENTS OF THE PETITIONER:

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