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Manoj Anslem Rebeiro v. Candace Elizebath Rebeiro

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 4983 of 2016)Decided 9 May 2016
Civil Appeal No. 4983 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

The father of a minor child, Marileine Amanda Rebeiro, approached the Supreme Court seeking visitation rights after the High Court, citing the acrimonious background between the estranged parents, had declined to grant him any visitation.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that however bitter the relationship between the parents, it could not be so acrimonious as to deny a father the right to see his daughter. It directed the mother to produce the child at the Family Court, Thiruvananthapuram, on the third Saturday of every month between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. for supervised interaction with the father, with the grandparents also permitted to be present. Given the highly estranged relationship, the Court directed that the child not be taken outside the Family Court premises during these visits.

Lesson Learnt

Even in bitterly contested custody disputes, courts will generally preserve a parent's basic right of access to a child, structuring supervised, time-bound visitation (often at a neutral venue like a Family Court) to balance that right against the child's safety and stability.

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

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