CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has held that the best interest of the minor children has to be taken into account by the courts while deciding granting of their custody – whether to hand them over to their mother or father – and they shall not be treated like commodities.
“Minor children, at no circumstance, be treated as commodities either by the parents or by courts or by anyone else. Best interest of the children, which is globally recognised, is to be ascertained by the courts; accordingly, custody is to be granted,” a division bench of justices S M Subramaniam and Mohammed Shaffiq said in a recent order. The court was hearing an appeal filed by R Rajkumar of Chennai against the August 26, 2025, order of a single judge who granted five days custody of his twin children to the mother (Swapna Raj) and two days to the father in a week. The division bench set aside this order after hearing the children in the open court and finding out their choice.
It ordered the full custody of the twins to the mother and said the father can approach the court for visitation rights while stating it is a well-settled principle that welfare of the minor children shall be of paramount consideration when the court exercises its parens patriae jurisdiction.
It noted that the children had expressed their unwillingness to go with their father, who had physically and emotionally abused them when they were staying with him, and instead, preferred to be with the mother. The trial court ought to have granted full custody to the mother, with whom they are living comfortably, happily and in a peaceful manner. Since both the children expressed their unwillingness to go with the father, there is no point in granting custody of two days to the father as it will create mental stress, the bench stated.
It remarked that the single judge should not have granted custody to the father as it was going to cause mental agony and emotional stress.
The court directed the father to pay the entire educational expenditure of the children to protect their education and livelihood.
The marriage of Rajkumar and respondent Swapna Raj was solemnised on August 20, 2010. Their twin children are 11 years old now. Due to some misunderstanding, the couple has been staying separately. A divorce petition was filed in 2024 at a local court in Chennai. While it is pending, both the appellant and the respondent had filed custody petitions. The single judge, after hearing them, had ordered five days custody to the mother and two to the father in a week.