Marriage is not merely for sexual pleasure, its main purpose is to procreate, says Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has observed that marriage is not merely for sexual pleasure but its main purpose is to procreate, Live Law reported on Monday.

Justice Krishnan Ramasamy made the observations on September 16 while hearing an estranged couple’s dispute over the custody of their two children.

“This court would like to stress and impress upon the persons, who have tied the marital knot that the concept of marriage is not for mere satisfying the carnal pleasure, but it is mainly for the purpose of progeneration, which leads to the extension of the familial chain,” the judge said in his order. “The child born out of the said wedlock is the connecting link between the two individuals, who have been united over a sacred oath, taken by both.”

The judge added that the children “brought into this vicious world” are made to suffer for no fault of theirs. He also observed that the children have a fundamental right and need for a loving relationship with their father and mother. Denying it would amount to child abuse, the judge said.

“Law can satisfy the ego, but it can never satisfy the requirements of the child, as the framers of the law were only conscious of the welfare of the child and not on the mental turmoil that would be faced by a child in such a calamitous situation,” the order stated.

Justice Ramasamy said that prima facie, it appeared that the father had “poisoned the minds” of the children against their mother.

“To turn a child against a parent is to turn a child against himself,” the judge added. “In fact, hatred is not an emotion that comes naturally to a child against his/her mother/father unless it is taught by the person whom the children believe.”

The judge asked the man to hand over interim custody of the children to their mother within a week.

In case, the father fails to hand over the custody of the children to the mother within the mandated time, the mother is at liberty to approach the assistant commissioner of police in Chennai’s Triplicane and seek assistance, the High Court said.