The wife argued that the single-judge order had less to do with the prayer of the parties, and instead, went on to talk about how the wife must behave.
The Madras High Court recently set aside a single-judge order, which said that a wife who had separated from her husband, must offer tea and snacks and eat with him when he visits their child.
A Division Bench of Justices Paresh Upadhyay and D Bharatha Chakravarthy said about the order that while deciding the issue of visitation rights, the single-judge had got swayed and gone on speaking about how the conduct of both parties should be. The present bench noted that such observations were unnecessary.
In the order passed by him on July 13 this year, the single judge, Justice Krishnan Ramasamy, had made the observations noting that he had come across many such instances, where one spouse ill-treats the other when one comes to visit their child.
The spouse shall treat the other spouse, though as not wife/husband due personal indifferences, at least treat him/her as a guest by paying more attention than only wife/husband since, in our customs and practice, a guest is treated by means of “Atithi Devo Bhava (Guest is God)”, the order under challenge had stated.
In her appeal, the wife argued that the single-judge order had less attention to the prayer of the parties, and instead, went on to talk about how the wife must behave and treat when her estranged husband visits their child.
She also informed the court that the single-judge order had granted visitation rights to the man, and she was now leaving Chennai and moving to Gurugram for a new job. The couple’s daughter had also been admitted to a new school in that city and has been living with the woman since their separation in 2017, the petitioner woman added.
However, the husband argued that the woman’s grievance was with certain observations made by the single judge which could be expunged. Therefore, there must not be any interference in the visitation rights granted to him.
