Indian Citizen (XXX) 13 April 2015

Child's surname

Dear All,

I have been married for the last one year & my wife delivered a son last month. Due to official work, I was not there during the delivery in India. My wife & I differ on a lot of issues & we keep having quite a lot of arguments.

I have been financially supporting her in everything even before we got married & still continue to do so along with the baby’s expenses. I plan to travel to India in September 2015 when my son will be 6 months old.

The contention between us now is over the child’s surname. My wife never changed her surname after marriage & I never insisted on that. My wife is insisting now that she will go ahead & give the child her surname ONLY.

My queries to the legal brains here are:

Is it allowed by Indian law to give the child his mother’s surname without the father’s consent in a marriage?
If yes, can this be a ground for me to seek a divorce from her?

I suggested to let the child just have his first name now till he turns 18 & then let him decide for himself. Unfortunately, that is not cutting any ice with her.

I am helpless now because of my physical absence & therefore thought of posting my query here.

Look forward to your response on this.

Regards

Reply Follow

2 Replies

Kappil Cchandna (Expert Bail & Criminal Defence Lawyer at Delhi Supreme Court of India) 13 April 2015

Sir, No way it can be considered as a ground of divorce .... But yes to some extent it will be considered as behaviour to be little different .... Warm Regards Kapil Chandna Adv 9899011450

Subhomoy Das (Retail Manager) 14 April 2015

Dear all,

Even i`m also facing the same problems. I`m married for 5 yrs now. I have one son 3yrs old. My wife stays at her parents house with her son. My wife never used my surname after marriage. I never insisted on that.
But i came to know that my wife have applied for the State Public service commission whereas she have mentioned her marital status as MARRIED but she have left blank in Husband Name coloumn. ( She didnt my mentioned my name as husband name). Morover my son birth is registered and his name too got registered from the Local Municipality body. The birth certificate copy is with me. But in the nursery school where my wife have admitted my son have mentioned a different name in the School admission record. Its not the same name what is mentioned in the Municipality Birth Certificate records. all this my wife have done without informing / discussing with me. To my surprised the school also didnt bothered to check the birth certificate. When i asked my wife why did he change the name of my son she then casually replied that " ITS WHAT A BIG PROBLEM. IF WE DO AFFIDAVIT MENTIONING BOTH NAMES OF OUR SON BELONGS TO SAME PERSON THEN ". But she didnt do any affidavit till date. However she have used my surname in my son`s surname.

My question is :

1. All this activity is not an act of fraud or providing wrong information. Like as the State Public Sevice commission is a public body and providing them false information is not an act of crime ? Whereas she have signed the undertaking in the application form that all the informations provided are true & correct to the best of my knowledge & belief.

2. On basis of this acts can i apply for divorce ?