In Brief
A child born to parents of different nationalities (one Indian, one Kenyan-British) became the subject of competing guardianship claims. The High Court of Delhi referred the dispute to mediation, where a counsellor interacted with the child and submitted a report. When the parents' dispute over the report's confidentiality reached the Supreme Court, the Court held that in child custody and guardianship matters, confidentiality rules for mediation do not apply to counsellor reports on the child's behaviour and wellbeing. The paramount consideration is the child's best interests, requiring the court to have access to expert evaluations. The Court also held that review jurisdiction was improperly exercised to overturn a defensible earlier judgment.
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