HC: Father can’t force child to use his surname

HC: Father can’t force child to use his surname

New Delhi:7.8.2021 

The Delhi high court on Friday said that every child has the right to use the mother’s surname and a father can’t impose his will in this regard, reports Abhinav Garg.

“A father does not own the daughter to dictate that she should use only his surname. If the minor daughter is happy with her surname, what is your problem?” the court observed. It was hearing a plea by a minor girl’s father seeking directions to authorities to have his surname, and not her mother’s, reflect in the daughter’s ID documents.

‘All kids can use mom’s surname’

Refusing any relief, justice Rekha Palli declined to pass any direction and wondered why the father moved court for such a direction.

The court said every child has a right to use his or her mother’s surname and courts can’t intervene in such matters to force the father’s will upon a child against his or her wishes. During the hearing, the man’s counsel submitted that his daughter was a minor and could not decide such issues on her own, and that the child’s surname was changed by his estranged wife.

He claimed that the change in name will make it difficult to avail insurance claims from the insurance firm as the policy was taken in the name of the girl with her father’s surname. But the court dismissed these as apprehensions and termed the plea “misconceived”. It nevertheless disposed of the petition granting liberty to the man to approach his daughter’s school to get his name recorded in the school records as the father.