Madurai: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has appointed a Hindu couple as the legal guardians of a minor Muslim girl, holding that the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, is religion-neutral and applies to all persons seeking guardianship of a minor.
A bench comprising Justices N Anand Venkatesh and KK Ramakrishnan delivered the ruling after setting aside an order of the Madurai Family Court, which had earlier rejected the couple’s plea in September last year on the grounds that the child was a girl and that the applicants were strangers to her.
The couple, married in 2012, had been unable to have children and decided to adopt. The child’s biological mother, a neighbour of the couple for over 10 years, is a daily wage worker with three children. Following the death of her husband, she faced severe financial difficulties in supporting her family and, therefore, gave her third child—born in December 2023—to the couple.
When the couple approached the court seeking to legalise the arrangement through guardianship, the Family Court dismissed their application.
Hearing the appeal, the High Court bench summoned the child’s biological mother, who appeared before the court and confirmed her consent. She stated that the couple had cared for the child since birth and that the child referred to them as her parents, while addressing her biological mother as “aunty.”
Taking note of the circumstances, the court observed that the child had been raised by the couple as their own and that the biological mother had given her full consent. Concluding that the arrangement was in the best interest and welfare of the child, the court appointed the couple as her legal guardians.