The Bombay high court on Wednesday remarked that they should not be brought to the court to witness the legal showdown between their separated parents.
Expressing concern for children being fought over in custody battles, the Bombay high court on Wednesday remarked that they should not be brought to the court to witness the legal showdown between their separated parents.
While hearing the case of a city-based couple Anil and Rima (names changed to protect identities of their children) fighting over the custody of their three kids who live with their mother, the court was told that their 15-year-old daughter was sitting in the courtroom while their parents’ advocates countered allegations made by each.
Anil’s advocates Manjula Rao and Pradip Chavan told the court that while Rima had failed to bring the children to the counsellor in the family court, one of them had been sitting in the courtroom all day and missing school. “It is not a holiday and she has been here since morning,” Rao said. Rima’s advocate Vivek Kantawala, however, said that the children had been brought to meet the counsellor on three occasions and the girl was only accompanying her mother to the court. “There is nothing wrong with that,” he said.
“There is something wrong with that,” justice Roshan Dalvi said, and added, “This is not a place fit for children.” She said that if the girl did not have to go to school, her mother should have taken her to watch a film than bringing her to the court. “Children don’t come to our court willingly unless they are studying law,” she said.
The court was hearing two petitions — one filed by Anil seeking action against Rima for not complying with the family court’s order and restraining their children from meeting him, while the other was filed by Rima challenging the family court’s order of reducing the maintenance amount to be paid by Anil.
The couple was married in August 1993 and the divorce petition was filed by Anil in March 2008. In May 2009, Rima slapped harassment charges against him after which he was arrested and released on bail. They have three children — daughters aged 16 and 15, and an eight-year-old son.
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