Don’t badmouth each other before children as parenthood continues even after divorce, Karnataka HC tells couple while dissolving marriage

You don’t have any Active Subscription.

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

While allowing dissolution of the marriage of a couple, the High Court of Karnataka directed them to refrain from making disparaging remarks against each other in the presence of, or within the hearing of, their two minor daughters.

Besides, the court asked them to make every endeavour to ensure that the children are able to maintain a loving, healthy and unhindered relationship with both parents, while observing that “both the parties [parents] shall bear in mind that, notwithstanding the dissolution of their matrimonial relationship, they continue to be the parents of the children.”

A Division Bench comprising Justice D.K. Singh and Justice H. Shanthi Bhushan passed the order while disposing of a plea in which it reduced the alimony granted to the wife, a medical practitioner, by the family court to ₹50 lakh from ₹2 crore, considering her financial status, independent source of income and her own financial assets.

However, the court directed the husband to pay ₹25,000 per month per child towards their maintenance, education, medical expenses and other reasonable needs until the children, who will remain in the custody of their mother, attain the age of majority, with an annual increase of ₹5,000 per child.

The Bench said that the father of the children, notwithstanding the dissolution of the marriage, should continue to discharge his parental obligations towards them and, at the appropriate time, particularly at the time of their marriage, contribute reasonably towards the marriage expenses of each child, with love and affection and to the extent of his financial capacity.

While granting the father permanent visitation rights for two days a week, the Bench said the mother should extend reasonable cooperation to ensure that he is able to exercise those rights meaningfully and without unnecessary obstruction. The Bench also directed that the children should not be relocated without the knowledge of the father or the permission of the jurisdictional court, wherever necessary.

In addition to physical visitation rights, the Bench granted the father the right to communicate with the children telephonically or through WhatsApp/video calls in emergencies for a reasonable duration, having regard to their age, school schedule and other activities. However, the Bench made it clear that both parents should ensure that “such communication takes place peacefully and without exposing the children to the disputes or differences between the parents.”

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.