CHENNAI: A 14-year-old girl, whose parents have divorced, jumped off the first floor of a building in the Madras High Court on Tuesday, after a division bench decided that Tuesday it is in the interest of the girl that she be sent to the government children’s home at Kellys based on a habeas corpus petition filed by her father.
Police personnel present at the premises rushed to her aid and took her to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, where she is undergoing treatment.
The girl had expressed unwillingness to live with her father, who resides alone in Neelankarai, and wanted to be with her mother in the Andamans. Her father had filed the habeas corpus petition, seeking a direction to the police to produce her as the girl was reportedly missing for a long time. Police later found she had been staying at her grandmother’s house.
The girl was produced before the division bench of justices MS Ramesh and V Lakshminarayanan, when the petition filed by her father came up for hearing. As per the earlier directions of the bench, the girl had undergone counselling at the Tamil Nadu Mediation and Conciliation Centre. The report filed by the counsellor recommended specialised counselling for her by a psychiatrist.
Referring to the girl’s willingness to live with her mother, the bench said, going through the confidential report of the counsellor, the court was of the view that there would not be a conducive atmosphere for the child to reside in the Andamans safely.
“Since the girl expressed that she does not want to live with her father, the only alternative left to us is to direct her to be put in a safety home,” the bench said.
The court directed police to ensure her safe admission to the Kellys home on Tuesday itself and asked her father to accompany her for counselling with psychiatrist Dr Venkat at the Institute of Mental Health, Kilpauk, on Wednesday and other subsequent dates. It also directed the psychiatrist to counsel the father, noting he had been aloof from the child for a long time. The mother and grandmother were granted liberty to visit the girl during permissible hours. The matter was adjourned to August 28.
Police sources said the girl jumped in distress after learning of the court’s order to send her to the children’s home.