'Ego' Is A Small Three Letter Word That Spoils Relationships: Madras High Court

While dismissing a wife's habeas corpus petition claiming that her husband had kept their four year old son in illegal custody, the Madras High Court stressed that parents must keep aside their 'ego' for the welfare of the child.

Justice S Vaidyanathan and Justice C Saravanan dismissed the petition observing that the child was not in the illegal custody of the husband. The court, however, gave liberty to the petitioner to approach the appropriate forum and work out her remedy for the custody of the child. 

In the present case, the wife had submitted that due to a matrimonial dispute, she had gone to her parental home with her son for giving birth to her second child. While so, the husband took her minor son from her custody. 

At the same time, the husband submitted that it was the wife who had left the minor son under his custody and had gone to her parental home for delivering second child. She had filed the present petition only after receiving notice and coming to know that the respondent husband had moved for divorce.

Remarking that ego often destroys relationships, the court observed, 

 The parties should bear in mind that 'ego' is just a small three letter word, which can destroy a big twelve letter word called 'relationship', as ego and love will not travel together. Be that as it may, this goes without saying that this Court cannot decide about the custody of the child and it is for the petitioner, being a mother to work out her remedy before the appropriate forum for custody of the child. 

The court reiterated the observations made by Justice Vaidyanathan where the court had remarked that ego and intolerance were like 'footwear' which had to be left outside the house so that the child did not have a miserable life.

The court also noted another decision of the court which compared the wife to a root and husband to the trunk and observed that when the root was damaged the entire family would get ruined. Thus, it was equally important for the husband to look after the welfare of the wife.

Case Title: Mrs Karthika v. Superintendent of Police

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 436

Case No: HCP.No.1884 of 2022

Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr.G.Balamanikandan

Counsel for the Respondent: Mr.R.Muniyapparaj, Additional Public Prosecutor