INDRANIL MUKHERJEE Vs. SMT. JAYEETA MUKHERJEE (NEE BHATTACHARJEE)

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This revisional application is filed assailing the Order No. 21 dated 14th September, 2017 passed by the learned Additional District Judge, 1st Court, Barasat in Misc. Case No. 220 of 2016 by which an application for visitation of the minor children is disposed of permitting the petitioner to meet the child on every Friday between 3 pm to 5 pm at Court premises provided the Court remains open on such date. A consequential direction was also passed for such visitation which are reflected in the concluding portion of the impugned order.

(2.) There is no dispute over the relationship of the parties to the said proceeding. The parties have not separated themselves permanently by a decree of divorce passed by the competent Court. The litigation is founded upon the custody of the minor children born of the wedlock on 04.02.2005 and 06.02.2009 respectively. The parties are blessed with a son and a daughter but by passage of time there appears a discord in the relationship and both the parties are living separately. Admittedly the minor children are presently in custody of the opposite party and living at a different place than of the petitioner. Since the petitioner was unable to meet the minor children, an application was taken out for a direction upon the opposite party to permit the petitioner to visit the children and to have an interim custody pending adjudication of an application for permanent custody. The impugned order would reveal that an objection was raised to the visitation of the petitioner on the premise that his conduct is very much doubtful and harmful not only towards her but also the minor children. It is a specific stand of the opposite party that the petitioner frequently visits the school of the minor son but an allegation is made that during such visit he perpetrated threats in various manner which led to filing of a complaint by the son with the concerned police station which was subsequently not proved.

(3.) The learned Judge in the Court below observed that there is hardly any possibility of retrieving and/or reviving the relationship between the warring parents but equally it is the duty of the Court to see the welfare of the minor children. The Court held that the father has every right to meet his children and directed such visitation to be held on every Friday in the Court premises between 3 pm to 5 pm.