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HC steps in, names 3-year-old as parents fight over her name

Reported by:  PTC News Desk  Edited by:  Shgun S -- October 02nd 2023 07:23 PM
HC steps in, names 3-year-old as parents fight over her name

HC steps in, names 3-year-old as parents fight over her name

PTC News Desk: High Court used its 'parens patriae' jurisdiction to choose a name for a child involved in a name dispute between her warring parents.

The bench determined that seeking to resolve the dispute between the parents would take time and that, in the meanwhile, the absence of a name would be detrimental to the child's welfare or best interests.


"In the exercise of such a jurisdiction, the paramount consideration being the welfare of the child and not the rights of the parents, the court has to perform the task of selecting a name for the child," the High Court of Kerala said.

"While choosing a name, factors like the welfare of the child, cultural considerations, interests of parents and societal norms can be reckoned by the court. The ultimate objective being the well-being of the child, the court has to adopt a name, taking into consideration the overall circumstances. Thus, this court is compelled to exercise its parens patriae jurisdiction to select a name for the child of the petitioner," the court further said.

The child in question's birth certificate bore no name. When she was about to start school, the school officials insisted on a name for her and refused to accept her birth certificate, which had no name on it. It all began when the petitioner's mother attempted to register her name as 'Punya Nair'. However, the Registrar insisted on seeing both parents before registering the name.

The divorced parents were unable to reach an agreement since the father wanted to name the child 'Padma Nair'.

After considering all factors, the court determined that the name chosen by the mother, with whom the child was residing at present, should be given priority, but that the name of the father should also be included because paternity was undisputed.

Based on this, it came up with the name 'Punya Balagangadharan Nair' or 'Punya B Nair' for the child and ruled: "In order to set at rest the disputes between the parties on the name, the child is directed to be given the name 'Punya', and the name of the father 'Balagangadharan' also be added along with the name Nair."

- With inputs from agencies

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