The Order of the Court was as follows :

The above Original Petition is filed by the husband against his wife to direct his wife to hand over custody of the minor son Skanda, who is now aged about four years, under the following circumstances. Application No. 5362 of 1991 is filed by the petitioner husband for an interim order granting custody of the minor boy Skanda to the petitioner pending disposal of the main Original Petition.

2. Application No. 462 of 1992 is filed by the respondent/wife claiming visitation right to the two daughters Swetha and Shradha and to retain their custody during week ends. The said application (Application No. 462 of 1992) was filed before the Family Court, Madras, and numbered as I.A. No. 649 of 1991 in O.P. No. 651 of 1991. Since both the respondent and the petitioner agreed for the transfer and trial of that application along with O.P. No. 573 of 1991, an order was passed by me by consent transferring I.A. No. 649 of 1991 in O.P. No. 651 of 1991 from the Family Court, Madras, to this Court for joint trial of both the said application and the main O.P. No. 573 of 1991 filed by the husband in this Court.

3. The respondent, who is the wife of the petitioner, has filed O.P. No. 651 of 1991 before the Family Court, Madras, under S. 10 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1956, against the petitioner/husband seeking the relief of judicial separation on the round of cruelty. Along with that petition, the respondent has filed I.A. No. 649 of 1991 before the Family Court, which was subsequently transferred to this Court by consent of both parties and numbered as Application No. 462 of 1992, seeking a direction to the petitioner to permit her to have access to her two daughters viz., Swetha and Shradha and also retain their custody during week ends as an interim arrangement until the disposal of the main Original Petition filed by her for judicial separation.

4. The petitioner and the respondent got married on 29-4-1979 They have three children, who are all minors. The first child is a daughter by name Swetha. She was born on 15-11-1980. The second child is also a daughter by name Shradha, who was born on 8-12-1985. The last child, who is a boy by name Skanda, was born on 22-11-1988. The third child is a minor whose custody is the subject matter of dispute.

5. According to the petitioner, he reposed immense confidence in the respondent and she was given full freedom and liberty. But the respondent betrayed the trust and confidence reposed in her and developed illicit relationship with one A. R. Ramesh, who also happened to be one of the friends of the petitioner. The petitioner, as a person following the path of restraint, was appealing and persuading the respondent to desist from going out or being seen with the said A. R. Ramesh. The respondent was also in the habit of talking to the said A. R. Ramesh over phone for long hours almost every day and such talk used to be in whispers. To the utter shock and dis-appointment of the petitioner, the respondent used to meet the said A. R. Ramesh in Park Sheraton Hotel and go out with him in his car to isolated and secluded places. During August, 1989, the respondent used to take the first daughter to Park Sheraton Hotel for coaching her in swimming. After leaving the child in the swimming pool, the respondent used to go away with the said A. R. Ramesh in his car to an isolated corner in the Boat Club Road. On one such occasion, the respondent and A. R. Ramesh were caught red-handed by the petitioner at Boat Club Road and both of them were found in the car in a compromising position. The petitioner was totally upset over the conduct of the respondent and stopped talking to her. On seeing that the petitioner was angry and upset, the respondent, of her own accord, wrote and gave a letter Ex. P-1 to the petitioner, wherein it was stated that wives like her will never to be forgiven. The respondent admitted that in future, she would shower all love on the petitioner. I