‘Redefine Jurisdiction Of Family Courts Under Guardianship And Wards Act To Protect Interests Of Children Of Transnational Marriages’: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court observed that the jurisdiction of Family Courts as stipulated under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 must be redefined so as to adequately protect the rights and interests of children whose parents have entered into transnational marriages. Opining on the need to enact a revised legislation, Justice J. Nisha Banu observed, “Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, was of the year 1890 where inter-country marriages or foreign marriages were not even in contemplation. As on date, those kind of marriages are innumerable happening each and every day. The law should take a lien matching the changes happening in the society. If the law is lacking behind, the rights of the parties will also lack behind. Therefore, it is the time for the Legislature to take note of the above types of marriages and taking into account the interest of the children, may redefine the jurisdiction of the Family Court, so that neither the children nor the person interested in the welfare of the children shall suffer”