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Don’t destroy your kids’ childhood in your ego clashes: SC to warring couples
The Supreme Court has cautioned warring couples against destroying the childhood of their kids and the bond between siblings while they exasperate each other through endless litigation
The Supreme Court has cautioned warring couples against destroying the childhood of their kids and the bond between siblings while they exasperate each other through endless litigation.
“In this endeavour to destroy each other, such couples destroy the childhood of their kids. Torn between their parents, children are left confused, and they lose the bond they should have with their siblings. We always say that these are not the cases for a court to adjudicate. When a couple has a fallout and they come to a court, everything is hit below the belt,” said a bench, headed by Justice Sanjay K Kaul.
The bench, which also included justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy, regretted that the top court has to deal with several such cases where “children have to suffer because of the ego of their parents.”
The comments came while the bench spoke to a woman in tears and her estranged husband during a hearing through videoconferencing on Monday.
The court lamented that the couple, which had a love marriage around two decades ago, is “now hell-bent on destroying each other even at the cost of their children’s well-being and their future.”
During the proceeding, Justice Kaul also counselled the couple: “You were once in love. You had three children together. And look at yourself now. In your attempt to exasperate each other, you care about nothing else, not your children and not even your own happiness.”
The judge said that despite having a good education and financial background, both of them are focussed only on pulling each other down instead of making out something better of their lives.
“Just think about your children and if not them, for yourself. Why can’t you two think of a time in future when you can meet sometime, have a cup of coffee with each other. Why can’t you two move on? If not for anyone else, for your own self...” Kaul told the couple.
The couple was before the court on the contention where their children should study. The three children have the dual citizenship of the USA and Thailand, but the parents would not agree with each other on their school or college.
In a previous order, the bench had sent one of the three sons for higher studies to the USA even though the mother opposed it. The question of where the youngest son will go for his schooling had remained pending, as the mother favoured he should go to Thailand whereas the father wanted him to stay in Mumbai.
The bench ordered that the youngest child will go to a school in Thailand and thereafter to the USA for higher studies just like his elder siblings. “It is better for your children to stay away from both of you until you give up this animosity. Also, you both agreed that your children will take the citizenship of Thailand and the USA. But now you want a court in this country to spend its judicial time on all this. We take strong exception to this.”
The bench concluded in its order: “Insofar as the parties are concerned, they seem to be on an endless journey of battling each other and we wish them good luck in their endeavour!”
