Aryavardhana: Karnataka court picks a name for toddler, reunites its estranged parents

MYSURU: Shakespeare may have pondered "what's in a name?" For an estranged Mysuru couple, the answer was left to four judges and a bevy of other judicial officers who picked a name for their three-year-old baby.
The court-chosen name of "Aryavardhana" Saturday also had a picture-perfect ending for the couple, pulling them back from the brink of divorce to a happy reunion as they exchanged garlands and left their bitter three-year fight behind.
After their baby was born in 2021, the couple from Hunsur in Mysuru district fought over the choice of name. The new mother started calling the baby 'Adi', a name not formally registered with any govt agency for birth records. The husband, who never met his wife after she announced pregnancy and even after the birth of the baby, didn't agree with the suggestion. He wanted a name reflecting god "Shani".
With the couple failing to strike a middle path for nearly two years, the wife moved court seeking maintenance under Section 125 of CrPC. At this point, an assistant public prosecutor, Sowmya MN, said they made several suggestions that would appeal to the couple, who finally agreed on the name "Aryavardhana".
The district and sessions court in Hunsur then formalised the "consensus" name at the hearing Saturday.