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Harshita Bhasin v. State of West Bengal & Ors.

Interlocutory Application · Neutral citation not assigned (Interlocutory Application No. 4 of 2016 in Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 4754 of 2014)Decided 14 Dec 2016
Interlocutory Application No. 4 of 2016 in Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 4754 of 2014
Chief Justice T.S. Thakur · Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice L. Nageswara Rao

Background

The petitioner-mother and the applicant-father, married in 2007 and living separately since 2013 amid a matrimonial dispute, have two young children (then aged 8 and 5). After a habeas corpus petition and SLP over custody, the Supreme Court in 2014 had already finally disposed of the main Special Leave Petition, leaving the children's guardianship to be decided by the trial court under the Guardian and Wards Act, while directing a fortnightly visitation arrangement under which the father brought the children from Noida to Kolkata every second Sunday. In this later interlocutory application, the father sought modification of that visitation arrangement, citing the physical and emotional strain on the children from the frequent long-distance travel (leaving home at 3:30 am, returning past midnight on school nights).

Decision Breakdown

Both counsel for the mother and father agreed, after discussion facilitated by the Court, to a revised arrangement: instead of fortnightly travel to Kolkata, the children would travel to Kolkata once a month, and the mother would instead travel to and meet the children in New Delhi during the alternate month, with the father bearing her and her mother's travel/hotel costs (Rs. 40,000 per month) and specific logistical arrangements for handover at a Supreme Court advocate's chambers. The Court recorded this consent arrangement and modified the High Court's 2013 order to that extent, disposing of the interlocutory application. The underlying guardianship/custody proceedings themselves remain pending before the trial court in Noida.

Lesson Learnt

Even after a Supreme Court case is formally "disposed of," a party can return via an interlocutory application to seek practical modification of an ongoing interim arrangement (like a visitation schedule) if changed circumstances make the original terms unworkable, and courts will actively encourage a negotiated, child-welfare-focused compromise rather than rigidly enforcing the original terms.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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