New Delhi, Oct. 4 -- A mother's determination to build a better career and secure a financially stable future for her children has helped her overturn a custody order in favour of her estranged husband, who, the court criticised for devoting his energies to prolonged litigation instead of improving his own financial position. The Supreme Court has allowed an academic with a Ph.D in engineering to take her two children to the UK after securing a teaching job there, overturning a custody order in favour of her estranged husband. "The efforts made by the appellant-mother even while contesting the multi-pronged litigation to pursue different jobs and thereby ensuring financial security for herself and for the children is indeed appreciable and weighs heavily in her favour for claiming custody of the children. The mother's efforts exhibit her resolve and committed approach for securing the children's future prospects," noted a bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta in a judgment last week. It rejected lower courts' description of her multiple job changes as a "nomadic life", noting that she had pursued better opportunities despite prolonged litigation. The judgment arose from a custody dispute that had continued for more than seven years. The couple married in 2011 and separated in 2018, when the woman was four months pregnant. She subsequently raised both children, a son now aged about 13 and a daughter aged about seven. The court noted that the mother had pursued different jobs despite facing "multi-pronged litigation" and had secured better prospects for the children. The father, it said, appeared to have channelled his energies into litigation rather than seeking better career opportunities to meet the children's future educational needs. The bench also noted a pending Pocso case against the father following the son's allegations of sexual abuse. The case will next be heard in January 2027....