Dismissing the plea of a minor’s grandfather seeking maintenance from his divorced daughter-in-law, the Madras High Court Thursday observed that the estranged father, acting through his family, made his own son a pawn in their continuing matrimonial discord.

Calling the case a tragic result of modern domestic complexities affecting familial bonds, Justice L Victoria Gowri remarked, “What ought to have been a matter of parental care has been converted into a tool of vengeance, where the estranged husband, instead of acting with responsibility, has chosen to act through his father, making his own minor son a mere pawn in their continuing matrimonial discord.”

Disapproving the misuse of maintenance provisions to reopen the closed chapters of matrimonial litigation, the court held that co-

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