Supreme Court Slams Mother for Coaching Daughter to Assault Father, Orders Mediation
The Supreme Court recently cautioned a mother for coaching her daughter to assault her father with a stick and demanding one crore rupees in return for going to reside with him.
"You are unnecessarily dragging your child, you are spoiling the career of your child, you are spoiling her mind, it will come back someday,” CJI Gavai told the mother who was before court in person.
Supreme Court made these observations while hearing a contempt petition filed by the husband against his wife for failing to hand over the custody of their minor daughter, despite an order of the District Court in his favour.
Senior Advocate PS Patwalia, appearing on behalf of the petitioner father, informed the Supreme Court that District Court had already passed an order granting custody to the father, and an appeal against the same was currently pending before the High Court.
Despite the subsisting order, court was told, the respondent-wife, Nitika Dhir, had not complied and was refusing to hand over the custody of the child. A contempt petition was filed before the High Court, but the same was dismissed, compelling the petitioner to approach the Supreme Court.
During the hearing, senior counsel Patwalia argued that the mother was brainwashing and spoiling the child’s mind to turn her against her father. He highlighted an incident where the child, allegedly at her mother’s instructions, demanded ₹1 crore from the father and even physically assaulted him with a stick. The child’s school records also reportedly showed that the mother had deleted the father's name.
This prompted CJI Gavai to express deep concern over the child’s well-being.
Despite the serious allegations, Patwalia clarified that the petitioner was not seeking punishment for contempt but was primarily concerned with gaining meaningful parenting time and ensuring the child’s welfare.
The senior lawyer thus proposed mediation to resolve the matter, which the respondent eventually agreed to. Recognising that the matter was matrimonial in nature, Court referred both parties to mediation and held, “Taking into consideration that the dispute is a matrimonial dispute, we consider it appropriate to refer the parties to mediation.”
With the consent of both parties, Supreme Court has appointed Justice Ritu Bahri, Former Chief Justice of the High Court of Uttarakhand, as the Mediator to consider all issues between the parties. The matter has been listed after 8 weeks.
Case Title: SOURABH SONI vs. NITIKA DHIR
Hearing Date: July 21, 2025
Bench: CJI Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran