CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has held that a father, despite being a natural guardian, cannot take forcible custody of his children.
A division bench of justices A D Jagadish Chandira and B Karthikeyan made the observation while ordering a Puducherry man to return his two-and-a-half-year-old child to his wife. The matter pertains to the habeas corpus petition (HCP) filed by the wife who is a medical doctor in Chennai and is currently staying with her mother.
She stated that her marriage was solemnised on January 21, 2021, and that they had two children, born in 2023 and 2024. Later, due to cruelty and harassment, she had separated from him and was staying with her mother. She also said matrimonial dispute cases have been going on.
On August 28, 2026, the husband forced his way into her parental home and took away the toddler, without her consent. Aggrieved by this, she had lodged a complaint with the All Women Police but no action was taken, she alleged.
She filed the HCP seeking a direction to the police to produce the child in the court and return custody of the toddler to her. The bench said, “Though the third respondent (husband) is the father and natural guardian of the child who is just about 2.5 years old, the custody of the minor child cannot be taken by force and it must be sought in accordance with the procedure established by law.”
In view of the above facts and circumstances, the third respondent is directed to hand over the custody of the minor child to the petitioner, the bench ordered.
However, it said the observations made in this order are confined to the disposal of the present HCP and shall not influence the adjudication of any subsequent proceedings initiated by either party before the appropriate forum.
