On 8 March, the High Court of Gujarat ordered a woman to get in touch with her husband in Australia through video call & enable their son to talk to him as the child had never seen his father
The court insisted that the couple should create a conducive atmosphere for the child to connect with his father, the court expressed fears that the child may not recognize him if they do not talk to each other.

Chief Justice Aravind Kumar said, “You can mark our words. The moment the child sees his father he would say, ‘hello uncle’. This should not happen”.

Unfortunately, the Court’s fears came true a few hours after it passed the order.

In the presence of their Advocates, the couple appeared on a video call. However, the child refused to speak to his father, saying that his mother was his everything as she has been performing his role as well.

The Advocates were left perplexed as the Court had ordered the couple to make video calls for 3 consecutive days to allow the father & son to bond. However, the child rejected the decision on the very first day.

As per case, the husband & wife were in Australia when a rift developed in their relationship. The woman returned to India with their 9-month-old son in 2012. She sought judicial separation & the court made an interim arrangement for maintenance from the husband. Contempt proceedings in this regard are pending in the HC since 2015.

The woman even went to Australia with her son, but the man stopped them from entering the house. As the Lawyers explored possibilities to settle the dispute amicably, the man agreed to take his wife & son in.

This time, the woman insisted on him coming to India to fetch them. Instead, the man sent 3 air tickets, asking his wife’s brother to bring the mother & son to Australia.

When he later filed a complaint that his wife was not letting him see the child, the Court ordered virtual meetings to take place.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Aravind Kumar requested the Advocates to ensure that the child spoke to his father. He said, “We do hope & trust that the meeting will ensure a reunion of the family which will be in the best interest of the minor son. The love, affection & goodwill of both the parents are required in abundance for overall development of the child.”

Meanwhile, the husband sought his wife’s medical records to arrange for treatment of her ailment, but the woman refused to part with the documents. The court said that “a husband & wife are one in law & there cannot be any secrecy between them”.

The Court ordered the woman to send medical records to her husband.

The Court has posted further hearing on March 16 & sought a report on the outcome of video call meetings between the father & son.