The Delhi High Court upheld the Family Court’s decision granting sole custody of two minor children to the father, dismissing the mother’s appeal and allowing the contempt petition. The Court held that the welfare and best interests of the children are paramount and override parental rights, financial capacity, or gender.
The Court rejected the Tender Years Doctrine as outdated and found that the mother had engaged in sustained parental alienation, deliberately denying the father access to the children and repeatedly relocating them, causing instability. The children’s reluctance to meet the father was held to be influenced rather than independent, and therefore not decisive.
Serious allegations of sexual abuse raised belatedly by the mother were found to be unsubstantiated and motivated, amounting to abuse of legal process. The Court emphasized that financial superiority alone does not determine custody and that siblings should not be separated.
Accordingly, custody with the father was affirmed, with visitation rights for the mother, reinforcing that custody law is child-centric, not parent-centric.
