If daughter expects father to support her education, she will have to play her role too: SC

A daughter who expects her father to fund her studies must also perform her role as a daughter, the Supreme Court recently stated in a ruling.

When dealing with a case involving a married couple who had a daughter, the bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh came to this conclusion. Following that, the wife and daughter returned to her parents’ home and stayed there. A motion for restitution of conjugal rights was made by the husband, but it was dismissed. He then went to the district judge and filed a motion for dissolution of marriage. The request was granted on the grounds of desertion, but the wife appealed to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The High Court overturned the lower court’s decision, causing the husband to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.

The father was previously ordered to cover the 20-year-old daughter’s tuition fees while the divorce case was underway and attempts at reconciliation were being made before the Supreme Court Mediation Centre. On Tuesday, the Bench was notified that the parties’ mediation had failed.

The husband’s lawyer, Senior Advocate Nidhesh Gupta, said that the daughter had refused to meet with him. It can’t be a one-way track if she wants her father to pay for her schooling and marriage expenditure, he said.

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‘She does not even see him on video calls My Lord’, submitted Gupta. To this, the Court observed, ‘Daughter must also appreciate that if she is expecting the father/appellant to support her education, she will also have to play a role as a daughter’.

The Court ordered that the issue be brought back before the Supreme Court Mediation Centre after the parties’ attorneys agreed to try mediation again. The mediator has now been instructed to make arrangements for the father and daughter to have sole contact.