{"id":85907,"date":"2026-02-04T15:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T09:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=85907"},"modified":"2026-02-05T16:19:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T10:49:29","slug":"tender-years-doctrine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/tender-years-doctrine\/","title":{"rendered":"Tender Years Doctrine"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Tender Years Doctrine Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Delhi High Court recently held that the welfare and best interests of minor children must prevail over the application of the Tender Years Doctrine.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Tender Years Doctrine<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a prominent <\/span><b>common law principle in family law and custody jurisprudence.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It <\/span><b>presumes <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that <\/span><b>children of &#8220;tender age&#8221;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (generally <\/span><b>under 5 years) should remain wit<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">h <\/span><b>their mother unless she is proven unfit.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The doctrine rests on several <\/span><b>presumptions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Biological Bond: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Infants have a natural attachment to mothers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Nurturing Instinct:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Mothers are presumed better caregivers for young children.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Developmental Needs:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Early childhood requires maternal involvement.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Emotional Security:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Mother&#8217;s presence provides psychological stability.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has been in <\/span><b>existence since<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the<\/span><b> latter part of the 19th century.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tender years doctrine is <\/span><b>often raised in divorce proceedings.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, its <\/span><b>relevance<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has <\/span><b>declined due to evolving views on gender equality and parenting roles.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Recent Delhi High Court Ruling:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It held that the<\/span><b> best interests and welfare of minor children<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are paramount and must <\/span><b>override the application of the Tender Years Doctrine.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The court also held that <\/span><b>custody disputes must be resolved<\/b> <b>based on<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a comprehensive evaluation of the <\/span><b>child\u2019s overall well-being<\/b> <b>rather than stereotypical assumptions <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">regarding parental roles.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source: <\/b><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.verdictum.in\/court-updates\/high-courts\/delhi-high-court\/ssb-v-dbc-2026dhc549-db-matrimonial-appeal-child-custody-dispute-family-court-1605809\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">VERD<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tender Years Doctrine is a prominent common law principle in family law and custody jurisprudence. Read more about Tender Years Doctrine, Meaning, Presumptions, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":85929,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,5147,22,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-85907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-prelims-pointers","9":"tag-tender-years-doctrine","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85907"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85945,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85907\/revisions\/85945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}