(1.) THE petitioner is the husband and the respondent is the wife. THE contempt petition came to be filed for the alleged disobedience of the order passed by this court in O.P.No.571 of 2007, dated 11.11.2009. By the aforesaid order, this Court had directed the custody of the minor children in the hands of the respondent Wife. THE petitioner father was allowed to have weekend custody in alternate Saturdays or Sundays if there was no examination for the children on the following Monday.
(2.) IT must be noted that the boy Suraj is at present 17 years old and the girl Sonal is 14 years old. After 13.11.2010, the two children had not visited the petitioner during December and January. The respondent by not entrusting the children in the custody of the petitioner had violated the order passed by this Court. IT is admitted by both sides that an appeal in O.S.A.No.153 of 2010 was filed as against the said order. During the hearing of the O.S.A., the violation was also brought to the notice of the Bench. In the affidavit, it was also indicated that on an application filed by the petitioner in M.P.No.3 of 2010, the passports of the two children were directed to be kept with the Registry. The petitioner also got permission to renew the passports and redeposit the same into the Court.
(3.) IN this context, it is necessary to refer to a judgment of the Supreme Court in Elizabeth Dinshaw v. Arvand M. Dinshaw reported in (1987) 1 SCC 42 in child custody matter. The following passage found in paragraph 8 may be usefully extracted below: