Indian court grants visitation rights to father previously accused of sexually assaulting minor daughter
It was the father’s case that the mother, by her “systematic manipulations”, and to deprive the minor from his love and care, registered the First Information Report (FIR) against him last year.
A Delhi Court on Monday granted visitation rights to a man whose wife had accused him of sexually assaulting their minor daughter, observing that the Delhi Police has not found any credible evidence to substantiate the allegations against him.
A Family Court judge directed the mother to let the minor child to be with her father everyday for two hours from 5 to 7 PM in a park near their residence as both the parties reside within a distance of 100 meters.
“Since child is of very tender age therefore mother would be around but since she is likely to raise objection every now and then therefore though she would be around but must be fifty meters away from the child when it meets her father so that child has unhindered access to her father,” the court said.
It added: “Parties are advised not to make any complaint against each other if aforesaid visitation goes up and down by 10-15 minutes. The visitation shall start with effect from 01.08.2023.”
The father had moved the family court seeking permanent custody of the minor child by way of a guardianship petition.
He filed an urgent application seeking interim custody till the pendency of the case seeking an unsupervised access of the daughter for six hours every day at his residence.
The couple was married in October 2019 and the child was born on January 23, 2021. It was the father’s case that the mother, by her “systematic manipulations”, and to deprive the minor from his love and care, registered the First Information Report (FIR) against him last year.
He contended that the mother had “fabricated and concocted facts” to get the FIR registered which was evident from the fact that a closure report was filed after an investigation and that all the charges were dropped against him.
On the other hand, the mother told the court that the father is a “man with perverted mind” who was seeking visitation rights of the minor on the pretext of his being a father. She alleged that the child was extremely unsafe with the father who had sexually assaulted her.
While granting relief to the father, the court observed that the mother was “excessively over imagining” any act of the man towards his own daughter.
“Given that investigation agency have not found by any credible evidence to substantiate the allegation of the respondent rather their report suggest allegation to be motivated and this court also on an independent assessment of the material placed on record by the respondent has prima facie not found any truth in the allegation of the respondent and feels that fatherly act of love of the petitioner is being painted wrongly. It has to be kept in mind that a child's sexual abuse is a very grave offense but it is equally graver to paint an innocuous act of father to be against his own child,” the judge said."
