Recently, while hearing a matter involving a child custody dispute within a matrimonial context, the Supreme Court made alterations to a condition set by the Family Court. As per the Family Court, it mandated that the father must visit and interact with the child solely within the court premises.

The matter was heard before the division bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Manoj Misra.

The Family Court granted the father visitation rights with the child on Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. but limited these visits to the court premises. This condition was not altered by the Kerala High Court, prompting the father to seek redress from the Supreme Court.  He submitted that the condition confining the child to the empty precincts of the Family Court on a Sunday in the presence of Court officers and a Police Officer was not conducive for the welfare of the child. He argued that such a condition will not make the visitation "meaningful and joyous."

Observing that the "environment" also matters, the Supreme Court modified the condition allowing the father to meet the child at a mall every Sunday for three hours.

"...we find that the repeated visitation rights in the Court premises, would also not be in the interest of the child as the environment during which the visitation rights are exercised, would also matter", the bench observed.

The Court has granted permission for visitation rights to be exercised at RP Mall in Kollam on Sundays, specifically from 11 AM to 2 PM. Additionally, it stipulated that the father must return his son to the mother after 2 PM, at the mall's entrance.