JAYANT RAJAN Vs. S LAKSHMANAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Original Petition is filed by the petitioner praying to (a) declare the petitioner, the father of the minor Sumant Arjun Rajan as the lawful guardian of the person of the minor and (b) grant such further reliefs as the Court deems fit and proper.

(2.) The averments of the petitioner is that the petitioner married the respondents'daughter Shanthi Durga on 5-2-1993; that out of which the only child Sumant Arjun Rajan was born on 26-10-1993; that his wife Shanthi Durga committed suicide on 17-4-1997; that during the days preceding her death, her behaviour was totally abnormal and she seemed very depressed; that while so on 15-4-1997 his wife informed him that she had an affair with her cousin Venky before her marriage to the petitioner and that he also visited her on a few occasions even after the marriage; that he asked his wife to forget about the past, but she continued to be agitated to the extent that she did not even take care of his son Sumant Arjun Rajan and when a blood test was done for the child to ascertain the cause of his fever, she started saying that it was only for the purpose of ascertaining the child's parentage the petitioner was doing the blood test; that in spite of having sent message to the second respondent, she did not turn up but only asked the petitioner to take her to a psychiatrist; that on 17-4-1997 she went and locked herself in the bedroom and since there was no response, his father himself broke open the door and found his wife hanging from the fan inside the bathroom attached to the bedroom.

(3.) The further averments of the petitioner are that her parents started accusing the petitioner for having committed the murder of their daughter and even himself and his father were physically assaulted and only with the. assistance of the police the petitioner and his family members were able to flee from Valliyur and the child was left behind at Valliyur and they got admitted in the hospital and took treatment for the injuries sustained at Madras; that a criminal case was registered in connection with the death of Shanthi Durga against the petitioner, his parents and his friend namely, Shivakumar; that in the meantime the petitioner wrote to the respondents requesting them to hand over minor son Sumant Arjun Rajan to him, which was refused resulting in the petitioner filing O. P. No. 729/97 before the High Court and a learned single Judge of this Court by his order dated 18-4-1998 directed the respondents to hand over the custody of the petitioner's minor son Sumant Arjun Rajan to the petitioner; that aggrieved by this order the respondents filed O. S. A. No. 115/98 and the order of the learned single Judge was reversed and the petitioner was directed to hand over the custody of his son to the respondents herein and this order of the Division Bench was subsequently confirmed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in S. L. P. No. 17297/98 dated 8-3-1999; that after handing over custody of his minor son Sumant Arjun Rajan with the respondents in June, 1999 the petitioner and his family members have visited his son many a time in a common place at Tirunelveli.