Keeping the interests of the children in mind in a marital dispute, a city sessions court has ordered a mother to meet her children only via video calls.
The court’s decision aims to prevent fights between the couple over meetings with the kids. The couple got married in 2013 and have two kids, aged nine and four. The wife is accused of an office affair and there are serious allegations against the husband, including domestic violence.
The couple has been living separately for a year – the husband in Vadodara and the wife in Ahmedabad. Both children are currently living with their father.
Interests of children
The court emphasised that it was vital to protect the children from their parents’ fights while still allowing them to meet their mother. The children’s interests are of paramount importance, it observed.
The wife has been accused of being involved in an office affair. On her part, she has made serious allegations against her husband. She filed a complaint under the Domestic Violence Act last year.
In December 2023, a metropolitan court here granted the mother visitation rights, allowing her to meet the children every Sunday between 10 am and 5 pm as an interim arrangement.
Husband’s contention
However, the husband approached the city sessions court a month later, contending that his wife starts quarrelling with him whenever she comes to meet the kids, using her connections in the police department to her advantage.
He requested the court to quash the trial court’s order and stop his wife from coming to meet the children. Despite opposition from the government lawyer and the wife’s counsel, who argued that a mother cannot be deprived of the right to meet her children, additional sessions judge M B Kotak modified the trial court’s order.
The judge noted that when the woman goes to meet her children at her matrimonial home in Vadodara various issues may arise that could lead to further litigation.
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