Surat: A family court in the city has directed a woman to file an affidavit in connection with a dispute over the proposed religious initiation (diksha) of her seven-year-old daughter. The direction follows an application filed by the child’s father, a stock market professional, seeking to stop the initiation.

The couple remains at odds, with the mother insisting on the ceremony and the father opposing it, prompting court intervention. The matter came up for hearing amid arguments centred on the child’s welfare.

According to the petition, the mother has been living separately from the child for the past six months and plans to have the girl initiated at a mass ceremony scheduled to be held in Mumbai on February 8. The father alleges that reconciliation was made conditional on his consent to the initiation. He stated that he is willing to consider initiation only after the child grows older and attains the age of 18. However, he claims that when he objected to the plan, his wife’s family and religious authorities conveyed that the initiation would proceed regardless of his consent.

Advocate Swati Mehta, appearing for the father, said the court would be urged to grant an injunction against initiating a minor, stressing that a child of such a young age cannot independently consent to a life involving religious restraint.

The proposed ceremony is part of a five-day mass initiation festival scheduled from February 4 to February 8, 2026, in Borivali, Mumbai, in the presence of several Jain monks, including Acharya Soumsundar Surishwarji. Organisers have stated that 59 mumukshus—18 men and 41 women—are scheduled to take initiation, with ages ranging from 71 years to the seven-year-old girl from Surat, who is expected to be the youngest participant. DeshGujarat