"Was Beaten, Locked In Bathroom By My Mother": Son To Supreme Court

"I was beaten up. I was locked in the bathroom for hours. I don't want to speak to my mother," a young man told the Supreme Court on Monday while recollecting his "traumatic childhood" even as his estranged parents are locked in a divorce battle for two decades.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant, which tried to persuade the man to talk to his mother, also spoke to him and his parents in the chambers for over 45 minutes.

The Supreme Court was hearing a matrimonial dispute, with the husband seeking a divorce and the wife opposing it.

When the counsel, representing the wife, told the bench that she be allowed to talk to her son, who stays with his father, Justice Chandrachud asked the man to talk to her.

The son, now 27-years-old, told the court that his mother used to beat him and lock him inside a bathroom when he was just seven years old.

Recollecting his trauma, he said, "It brings back my traumatic memories while talking to her. Which mother beats her seven-year-old son? I was locked in the bathroom for hours when she used to go out. My father never raised a hand against me".

The counsel for the mother said the son was telling a scripted tale and nothing of that sort had happened.

The bench said he is now a 27-year-old man, has his own understanding of things and that he cannot be forced to narrate a tale which is scripted.

Advocate Archana Pathak Dave, appearing for the husband, said that the mother never moved the court to seek her son's custody.   Dave said her client only wants a quietus to the dispute and divorce to be granted by the court by exercising power under Article 142.   Article 142 of the Constitution says the Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it, and any decree so passed or orders so made shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India.

The counsel for the wife said she does not want to live with the stigma of being a divorcee.

The couple had entered into wedlock in 1988, and in 2002, the husband sought divorce on the ground of cruelty and started living separately.

The bench said it would again meet the parents and the son after a month. "You know these matrimonial matters take time", the bench said after interacting with the parents and the son.

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