Court's duty to uphold dignity and autonomy of women: Madras HC

THE MADRAS HC SAID COURTS MUST REMAIN VIGILANT TO THE VULNERABILITIES FACED BY WOMEN

- Ayesha Arvind

Emphasising the judiciary's duty to safeguard the "dignity, autonomy, and peace of women", the Madras high court has dismissed a maintenance plea that attempted to "re-entangle" the mother of a 15-year-old boy in fresh litigation more than a decade after her divorce.

Justice L Victoria Gowri of the Madurai bench of the Madras high court made the remarks on November 13 while dismissing a petition filed in the name of the minor by his paternal grandfather, seeking monthly maintenance from the boy's biological mother. The court noted that the minor had been reduced to a "mere pawn" in what was essentially an attempt by his grandfather, and by extension, the estranged husband, to reopen "long-closed wounds".