In Brief
Dr. Amit Kumar and his estranged wife, both CRPF-deployed doctors, divorced by mutual consent in December 2016 with an agreed decree awarding custody of their two minor children (then aged 8 and 5) to the father. When transferred to Jammu, he placed them in boarding school and later demanded the mother fulfil her financial obligations under the decree. The mother then sought custody, claiming duress. The High Court awarded her custody based on the children's expressed preferences in court interaction. The Supreme Court allowed the father's appeal, holding that the consent decree was binding and reflected a conscious, informed agreement by educated parties after a six-month statutory reflection period; the children's preference for staying with a parent over boarding school was insufficient to override agreed terms, and the father's remarriage did not diminish his custody rights.
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