The Hindu : Front Page : Blood's not thicker for her

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 16, 2006

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Blood's not thicker for her

Mohamed Imranullah S.

DIFFERENT DEMAND: The girl, who was produced before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday. — Photo: G. Moorthy

MADURAI: "No... no... Have you all gone mad? Don't take me there, let them go... " yelled a nine-year-old girl on the corridors of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday after she was produced on a habeas corpus petition moved by her maternal aunt from Chennai.

The girl lost her father in October 1999 and her mother in April this year. Avoiding relatives, she preferred to live with her aged neighbours!

Earlier, during arguments, ,an astonished Division Bench comprising Justice F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla and Justice P. Murgesen said, "It is a delicate matter and we have to somehow ensure a transformation."

Hence, the court allowed the child to continue to stay with the neighbours for two weeks and appointed a woman advocate commissioner to monitor the progress of the case. According to the petitioner, the deceased couple belonging to Madurai were employed and for this reason, their daughter spent most of her time with the neighbours. Even after the demise of her father, the child used to frequently visit the nearby residents and got attached to them. Now that her mother too was no more, the neighbours were forcefully holding the custody of the child, the petitioner alleged.

On the contrary, the neighbours claimed that they had no objection if the child wished to join her relatives. However, they too alleged that the mother of the girl was working as a teacher in a Government school and the relatives were more interested in obtaining her terminal benefits.

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