'If mom cannot change daughter’s heart, what can we do', asks Madras HC during custody battle
The court cannot order a major (above 18 years) on what they should do, unless their act falls under any illegality.
Madras High Court
CHENNAI: If a mother couldn’t convince her daughter by winning over her heart, what can the court do, the Madras High Court questioned while dismissing a habeas corpus petition (HCP) preferred by a mother seeking her daughter’s custody.
The court cannot order a major (above 18 years) on what they should do, unless their act falls under any illegality. She has every right to lead her life on her own terms, observed a division bench of Justice S M Subramaniam and Justice V Sivagnanam while rejecting the request of a mother.
A Vanathu Natchathiram from Athipakkam in Kallakurichi moved the HCP, claiming that a local politician kidnapped her daughter Arokiya Anitha (35).
She submitted that her daughter dedicated her life to god by becoming a nun at the congregation of the RC Catholic Church at Gingee. Arokiya Anitha was employed as a teacher at the St Michael Matriculation Higher Secondary School at Gingee, the mother submitted.
While so, a local politician, Siva Dinakaran, who was already married, enticed her daughter with sugarcoated words by promising to get a lucrative job for her in foreign countries, said the petitioner.
After Arokiya Anitha fell into the trap of Siva Dinakaran, he kidnapped her with a motive to sell her through illegal women traffickers, the petitioner claimed. Hence, she sought the court’s intervention to get custody of her daughter.
Arokiya Anitha appeared before the court and submitted that all the allegations made by her mother against Siva Dinakaran were malafade and baseless. Anitha said she went to Siva Dinakaran on her wish. She also made an allegation against her mother that she was pursuing her everywhere and also tried to kill her.
After the submission, the bench observed that even though they can understand a mother’s feelings, the court cannot interfere with the personal liberty of a grown-up woman.
Hence, the bench dismissed the HCP and also directed both parties not to interfere in their life.