The Supreme Court on Friday took strong exception to High Courts treating children as “chattels” while deciding their custody in matrimonial cases.
The bench headed by Chief Justice RM lodha was “shocked” to read a decision by the Madras High Court recently which ordered a four-year-old girl to spend four days in a week with mother and remaining three days with father without realising how much agony she was put through.
The judges remarked, “This is not the way a child has to be treated…The core issue before us is that she is a four-year old child who is made a shuttlecock to be four days here and three days there.” The bench could not believe that the HC could have passed such an order without ascertaining what was in the best interest of the child.
“Child is not a chattel. It should not be treated so in matrimonial matters,” remarked the bench, directing the child to be produced on Monday in presence of both parents. In addition, the bench requested two lady lawyers in the Supreme Court - Madhvi Divan and V Mohana - to assist the child and the warring parents to ascertain the best interest of the child.
“The arrangement by the High Court is something that shocks the conscience of the Court…We are very sorry the HC has handled the case this way,” SC bench said, adding that the HC ought to have considered the tender age of the child and the fact that she was a girl who required the company of her mother.