The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Actor's ex-husband told to take son for psychiatric evaluation

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Thursday, Feb 03, 2011
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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Actor's ex-husband told to take son for psychiatric evaluation

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed Anand alias Akash, the first husband of actor Vanitha, to take their nine-year-old son to the Child Guidance Clinic (CGC) attached to the Government Children's Hospital, Egmore, Chennai, for a psychiatric evaluation.

Passing further orders on a petition by Mr. Akash, Justice V.Ramasubramanian observed: “The case on hand has posed the greatest challenge that I have ever encountered in any of the child custody cases so far. For once, I found myself at my wit's end at the hands of a nine-year-old boy.”

Earlier, the court had directed Mr. Akash to hand over custody of the child to Ms. Vanitha with a further direction to produce the child before the court to facilitate interaction. On Tuesday, Vanitha and the boy met in a small court hall. Within a few minutes, there was commotion and all the parties returned to the court.

Ms. Vanitha complained that the child's mind had been corrupted to such an extent that he was actually turning violent in order to ward off any attempt to put him in her custody. Therefore, she requested that the child be assessed by a child psychiatrist. However, Mr. Akash submitted that the child was normal and was intelligent enough to make a reasoned decision and preference and that he did nothing to influence the child's thinking.

“Truth appears to be the worst casualty these days in all family disputes,” the Judge observed in the course of his order.

The child could be subjected to an assessment by an expert in the field. “The object is actually to help the child overcome the internal struggle and the trauma that he is undergoing for the past few months.”

Mr. Justice Ramasubramanian said the kind of aversion exhibited by the child may either be one that was bottled up in his mind all these years or one that was developed through indoctrination. Without finding out its root cause, it was not possible to do substantial justice.

Therefore, he directed the petitioner to take the child to V.Jayanthini, Head of the Department of CGC, by February 6.

The doctor may examine the child with the assistance of her team of experts at their consultancy centre at Nandanam Extension here and find out whether the child had any deep-rooted problems or whether it was acting under external influence. She should send her report in a sealed cover to the Registrar-General, if possible by February 14.

Till the report was filed by specialists, both parties should maintain status quo and not precipitate matters. The matter has been posted for February 15.

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