Delhi HC grants visitation rights to divorced fathers maintaining their children

A recent Delhi High Court judgment has come to the rescue of such fathers stating that a father paying maintenance, for the child is entitled to visitation rights.

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Legal experts say the court's order will encourage more fathers to speak up.

In Short

  • A Delhi HC judgment came to the rescue of divorced fathers.
  • Fathers paying maintenance for their children will be granted visitation rights.
  • The bench said, fathers are entitled to see their children.

Harish (name changed) has been living separately from his wife and child. He has been duly paying maintenance towards them, but hasn't been allowed to meet his child even once. He has applied for visitation rights in court, but all he gets is more dates.

AGGRIEVED FATHERS

"My child was two-years-old when he was taken away from me. It has been two years now and I do not even know if he knows anything about me. Despite fulfilling all my responsibilities towards him, I have not been allowed to meet him.

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My application seeking visitation rights is still pending. How long do I have to wait to meet my own child?" Harish shared his ordeal with Mail Today.

Fathers like Harish, who have not left a single opportunity to play their part as a parent, are now waiting for the opportunity to meet their children whom they have lost to broken marriages. A recent Delhi High Court judgment has come to the rescue of such fathers stating that a father paying maintenance, for the child is entitled to visitation rights. According to experts, the judgment has set a precedent for fathers who have been denied the child's affection despite fulfilling all duties.

MUCH NEEDED CHANGE

Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Pratibha Rani had come to the rescue of such a father who had not met his daughter for three years.

Manpreet Singh, father of a 13-year-old girl, had challenged the family court's order that asked him to pay a monthly maintenance of `25,000 to his wife and another `25,000 to his daughter. While Singh did not have any grievance regarding the maintenance to his daughter, he challenged the amount to be paid to his wife and added that he be allowed to meet his daughter whom he had not met in three years. While the court upheld the family court's order, it allowed Singh's plea to meet the child.

The court said: "A father, who is ready and willing to pay maintenance for his daughter, is also entitled to see his daughter at least on festivals, her birthday or at regular intervals." Advocate Prashant Mendiratta said, "You cannot equate visitation rights with maintenance. Why should the earning capacity be linked with visiting the child? Having said this, it is the duty of every father to maintain his child. However, the current judgment would go as a precedent for those fathers who are maintaining their child and yet being kept away from them."

Also read: Denying sex to spouse for a long time is mental cruelty, ground for divorce: High Court

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