diff --git a/python/pyarrow/_parquet.pxd b/python/pyarrow/_parquet.pxd
index 0ac8b892c5bd4..ceb0222319456 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/_parquet.pxd
+++ b/python/pyarrow/_parquet.pxd
@@ -484,9 +484,9 @@ cdef extern from "parquet/arrow/reader.h" namespace "parquet::arrow" nogil:
                               const vector[int]& column_indices,
                               shared_ptr[CTable]* out)
 
-        CResult[shared_ptr[CRecordBatchReader]] GetRecordBatchReader(const vector[int]& row_group_indices,
+        CResult[unique_ptr[CRecordBatchReader]] GetRecordBatchReader(const vector[int]& row_group_indices,
                                                                      const vector[int]& column_indices)
-        CResult[shared_ptr[CRecordBatchReader]] GetRecordBatchReader(const vector[int]& row_group_indices)
+        CResult[unique_ptr[CRecordBatchReader]] GetRecordBatchReader(const vector[int]& row_group_indices)
 
         CStatus ReadTable(shared_ptr[CTable]* out)
         CStatus ReadTable(const vector[int]& column_indices,
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/_parquet.pyx b/python/pyarrow/_parquet.pyx
index 2770fb57aefd1..2fb1e41641f8e 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/_parquet.pyx
+++ b/python/pyarrow/_parquet.pyx
@@ -1602,7 +1602,7 @@ cdef class ParquetReader(_Weakrefable):
             vector[int] c_row_groups
             vector[int] c_column_indices
             shared_ptr[CRecordBatch] record_batch
-            SharedPtrNoGIL[CRecordBatchReader] recordbatchreader
+            UniquePtrNoGIL[CRecordBatchReader] recordbatchreader
 
         self.set_batch_size(batch_size)