The welfare of the child is paramount in custody disputes, necessitating a balance between parental rights and the child's safety during visitation.

ORDER :

1. This petition arises from an order of the Chhattisgarh High Court, dated, 11.05.2022, granting certain, specified visitation rights to the respondent-father in his appeal against dismissal of his petition seeking custody of the child before the Family Court, Durg.

2. Petitioner no. 1 and respondent were married on 16.01.2007 and out of this wedlock, petitioner no. 2-daughter was born on 12.01.2012. The primary subject of contention is the custody and welfare of their minor child, aged about thirteen years. During the separation between the parties since 2016, the child has resided with the petitioner no. 1, who has been the primary caregiver and custodian. The petitioner no. 1 claims to have provided a stable, nurturing environment conducive to the child’s emotional, educational, and overall well-being. On the other hand, the respondent has consistently maintained that he has the intention and willingness to actively contributed to the child’s upbringing and seeks a greater role in shaping the child’s life.

3. The Family Court granted sole custody of the child to petitioner no. 1 and the respondent was awarded limited visitation rights-restricted to one and a half hours on the first Sunday of every month and certain holidays.

4. Aggrieved by the limited visitation rights, the respondent appealed to the High Court, seeking joint custody or an extended visitation schedule. The High Court, after a comprehensive review of the evidence, agreed to retain sole custody with petitioner no. 1 but expanded the respondent’s visitation rights. It allowed longer meeting hours, physical meetings on a fortnight basis, shared vacation time, and regular video calls to promote a meaningful bond between the father and the child.

5. To implement this balance, the High Court set forth the following revised visitation arrangement:

(i) The father or grandparents would be able to engage with the child on a suitable video conferencing platform for one hour every Saturday and Sunday and 5-10 minutes on other days.

(ii) Both the father and the mother in order to facilitate the video conferencing in between shall procure smart phones which would facilitate the inter-se video calling.

(iii) Since both the parties are living in the same district, it is directed that on a fortnight basis on the working Saturday the child would be produced before the Family Court, Durg at about 10:30 AM to 11:00 A.M. by the wife. Wherefrom the child may be taken by the husband for the entire day and shall be returned in between 4:30 PM to 5:00 pm before the family Court to enable the mother to get back the custody.

(iv) During the long holiday/vacation covering more than two weeks, the child would be allowed to be in the company of the father/grandparents for a period of 7 days and in doing so in order to facilitate the same, the curriculum of the School/holidays shall be placed before the Family Court, Durg so that the custody of the child can be decided to be given at prior point of time for a limited period to the father. The period would be fixed by the Family Court after hearing both father and mother.

(v) During the festivals - Dussehra, Diwali and Holi, the father may join the company of the child at an independent venue for a limited period of time, 1 to 2 hours for a day and the child would be brought by the person of confidence of mother. The husband would intimate place or venue through the intervention of the family Court well before time.

6. Petitioner no. 1 has challenged this modified arrangement before this Court, citing concerns about the child’s safety and emotional stability.

7. This Court in its order dated 02.06.2022, while issuing notice, had directed as follows:

“Insofar as unnumbered clauses 1 to 3 and 5 are concerned, we are not inclined to interfere with the same at this stage.

So far as unnumbered clause 4 is concerned, for the time being, it is kept in abeyance and modified that during the vacation, the child would be entitled to be in the company of