KOLKATA: Conventional ideas of visitation rights in child custody cases are changing in Bengal, with more instances of courts granting “weekend” and “vacation” rights to the parent who doesn’t have primary custody, in keeping with modern notions of children’s holistic welfare.
The change is perceptible, according to Subhashree Pani, advocate at AQUILAW, a legal firm. “Concepts of weekend custodies, vacation custody, even video calls, are finding their way into legal orders. While every child custody case is dealt with on a case-to-case basis, it is generally perceived that a child’s wellbeing is better served by two happy parents,” she said, adding, “A 2019 SC judgment had also factored in the compulsions of a modern-day world.”
Ananya Chakraborty, the chairperson of West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR), said they, too, recommend to courts the need to make the child accessible by both parents. “Ideally, a child needs both parents,” she said. “But, during custody trials, the court generally hands over the child’s responsibility keeping in mind the economic, environmental and emotional quotient. The parent who is more capable of bringing up the child generally gets major custody. But courts stipulate certain condtions, where the child can meet the other parent as well. That is where we recommend what’s best for the child. Coparenting is a necessity in today’s world. More than the kids, we adults need to grow up and work it out.”
‘Parenting doesn’t end with marriage’
Lawyer Srijib Chakraborty backed this up. “We are increasingly filing appeals in courts for weekend custody, allowing the parent who doesn’t have child custody to spend time during social functions and vacations with the child, instead of mere visitation rights,” he said. “Courts are also increasingly allowing this if it finds both parents are eager for the child’s wholesome upbringing. Co-parenting or shared parenting is an emerging legal concept in India after the Law Commission of India first mooted it in 2015.”
Psychologist Siladitya Roy stressed how children suffer the most during a separation between the parents, and that is where weekend custody plays a vital role in his/her proper upbringing.
Arijit Mitra, secretary, Ayushman Initiative for Child Rights, a vocal advocate of shared parenting, says, “A child custody battle is often protracted. It isn’t just courts, but complaints also land in police stations. It is a vitiating environment for the child. Parenting doesn’t end with marriage.”
Mitra, who has roped in prominent citizens in Kolkata in their drive, also argued that Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS), or unjustified disdain of the child against one parent, often sets in, to argue that giving custody to just one parent is a “misconceived notion”.
Child psychologists said the situation gets tougher in cases of parental alienation, which sets in where one parent uses strategies to distance a child from the other parent.
“Nowadays, with the nucleation of families, children are largely isolated individually,” said child psychologist Devika De Ghosh.
