Supreme Court judges were also shocked to hear the agony of their 27-year-old son in the matrimonial dispute between husband and wife. Recalling his painful childhood, this son told the bench of Justice Dhananjay Yashwant Chandrachud and Justice Surya Kant, I was beaten up. I was locked in the bathroom for hours. I don’t want to talk to my mother. The parents of this young man live separately and they are embroiled in a divorce case for two decades.
By talking to the parents and the son in the courtroom for more than 45 minutes, Justice Chandrachud tried to persuade the son to talk to his mother. In this dispute, the husband has been requesting divorce from his wife for the last two decades and his wife is opposing it. In fact, when the lawyer representing the mother told the judges that she should be allowed to speak to her son as the son lives with his father. So Justice Chandrachud asked the son to talk to his mother.
The son, who was personally present in the court, told the judges that his mother used to beat him when he was seven years old and lock him in the bathroom. Recalling his childhood, the son said, “Talking to my mother will bring back my painful memories. Which mother beats her seven year old son? When she went out I was locked in the bathroom for hours. My father never raised his hand on me. The mother’s lawyer said that the son is telling a well thought out story and nothing like this has happened. The bench said that he is a 27-year-old youth, he has his own understanding and cannot be compelled to tell a well thought out story.
Advocate Archana Pathak Dave, appearing for the husband, submitted that the child’s mother never approached the court to seek protection of her son. Dave said that his client only wanted the dispute to be settled and talaq be granted by the court in exercise of power under Article 142. The mother’s lawyer said that she does not want to live with the stigma of being divorced. The couple got married in 1988 and in 2002, the husband sought divorce on the ground of cruelty and both started living separately.