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Jitender Arora & Ors. v. Sukriti Arora & Ors.

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 717 of 2013)Decided 17 Feb 2017
Criminal Appeal No. 717 of 2013
Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice R.K. Agrawal

Background

A couple married in 1999, moved to the UK, and had two daughters, but the marriage broke down acrimoniously amid allegations of domestic violence, and both parties separately obtained ex-parte divorce decrees: the wife's in the UK and the husband's in India. The custody battle centred on the elder daughter, Vaishali, who by the time of this appeal was about 15 years old and had been living in India with her father, while the High Court had earlier ordered her returned to her mother's custody in the UK on the general reasoning that a growing girl needs her mother's company. The father appealed to the Supreme Court against that order.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court personally interacted with Vaishali, who clearly and firmly expressed, in front of both parents, that she wanted to stay with her father in India and did not wish to go to the UK with her mother. The Court held that at 15 years of age, Vaishali had reached sufficient maturity to meaningfully weigh her own best interests, and that the High Court had erred by relying on an abstract generalisation about mother-daughter bonds instead of objectively assessing this child's specific circumstances, including that earlier chances given to the mother had not built the child's confidence in her. Finding that the child's welfare lay in continuing with her father, especially since she would reach majority within about three years, the Court allowed the appeal and set aside the High Court's judgment.

Lesson Learnt

In custody disputes involving an older, mature child, courts give real weight to the child's own clearly expressed wishes rather than deciding purely on generalised assumptions about gender or parental roles; a mature child's voice can be decisive even against an appellate court's broader welfare reasoning.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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