Matrimonial dispute: HC directs woman to enable children to meet father via videoconferencing

Make facility available thrice a week for one hour till lockdown ends: High Court

In an ongoing matrimonial dispute, a single Bench of the Bombay High Court has directed a woman to make necessary arrangements to enable her two children to meet their father via videoconferencing during the lockdown.

The Bench of Justice S.J. Kathawalla told the woman that the facility should be made available to her 15-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son thrice a week — Monday, Thursday, and Sunday — between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. till the lockdown ends in Mumbai. If the children find it difficult to go online at the specified time, a mutually agreeable time should be fixed for the children to have access to their father, the court said.

The woman filed a petition on August 22 last year requesting the family court to intervene and interview the children to ascertain their willingness to meet their father. The father submitted in court that he possessed a photograph to prove that he shared a cordial relationship with his children.

The Bench of Justice Sadhna S. Jadhav had then directed the family court to ascertain the willingness of the children. Following the order, a marriage counsellor from the family court interviewed the children and in a report said they were willing to meet their father in the children’s complex of the court. The counsellor also said the mother did not influence the children against meeting their father.

The court eventually allowed the father to have telephonic access to his children. Justice Jadhav also allowed the father to meet his children on specific dates during the Deepavali vacation in the children’s complex.

Later, the woman filed a contempt petition in December 2019. The Bench of Justice C.V. Bhadang appointed advocate Manjula Rao as a mediator in the case and tasked her with looking into the entire dispute, including providing the children access to their father. On March 17, both parents, along with their children, were asked to be present in the chamber of Justice Revati Mohite Dere on March 26.

The parties then approached the Bench of Justice Kathawalla on April 24, following which the court asked the woman to make arrangements for the videoconferencing facility. The Bench also held that the father would continue to pay the monthly maintenance as directed by the court till the lockdown is lifted in Mumbai. The Bench said the parties can later seek fresh orders from a regular court.