The Delhi High Court, in a significant ruling, has underscored that the dissolution of a marriage does not extinguish the parental status of both the mother and father. This legal perspective emerged during a case where a man sought to have his name reflected in the school records of his minor son. The court observed that when the man was alive, there was no justification for his ex-wife to alter the school admission form, replacing the father’s name with that of her second husband.
While acknowledging the woman’s rightful recognition as the mother in the school records, the court emphasized that this should not empower her to deny the man’s legitimate right to be recorded as the child’s father. Justice C Hari Shankar articulated that the termination of a marriage does not erase the parental status of both parents, stressing the enduring nature of parental ties even after divorce.
The court, in allowing the man’s plea, directed the school to reflect his name alongside the mother’s within two weeks. The ruling addressed the man’s concern that, since 2016, his name had been omitted from the school records, with the woman’s second husband listed as the guardian.
Acknowledging that certain matrimonial disputes led to the annulment of their marriage in 2015, the court examined the woman’s counter affidavit. Despite her acknowledgment that the petitioner was the child’s father, she argued that the acrimonious relationship warranted disassociating the petitioner’s name from her son. She highlighted that her present husband had embraced the child as his own.
The court, however, dismissed emotional considerations, asserting that neither the acrimony nor the divorce divests the petitioner of his status as the child’s father. The ruling thus upholds the legal recognition of parental roles post-marital dissolution and ensures the correction of the school records to accurately reflect the child’s parental lineage.
Also read: Protecting children from divorce trauma
