Prem Singh Rana vs Sonu Devi

Sandeep Sharma, J

By way of instant petition filed under Art. 227 of the Constitution of India, challenge has been laid by the petitioner to order dated 3.1.2023 passed by learned Senior Civil Judge, Nadaun, District Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh in CMA No. 1 of 2023, whereby an application filed by the petitioner seeking custody of minor son Neerav, till final disposal of the main petition, came to be rejected.

Pursuant to notice issued in the instant proceedings, Mr. Somesh Sharma, Advocate has put in appearance on behalf of the respondent.

Mr. Somesh Sharma, Advocate, states that though at no point of time, prayer, if any, was ever made by the petitioner to give visitation rights, but even otherwise, no illegality can be said to have been committed by learned court below, while refusing prayer for interim custody of the child, on account of the fact that the child clearly stated before learned court below that he does not wish to join the company of the petitioner.

Mr. Kulwant Singh Gill, Advocate, while refuting aforesaid submission made on behalf of learned counsel for the respondent, states that the allegations as contained in para-7 of the impugned order, are totally false because, at that time, custody of the child was never with the petitioner, rather, he was living with the respondent.

Having heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record, this court finds that, while filing application, as detailed herein above, no prayer was ever made by the petitioner for visitation rights, rather, he moved an application for interim direction, thereby giving him temporary custody of the child, during the pendency of the main petition filed by him for visitation rights.

Order impugned in the instant proceedings, nowhere suggests that request, if any, ever came to be made by the petitioner for visitation rights, rather, repeatedly, the petitioner insisted to grant him temporary custody of the child, which prayer came to be rejected on the ground that child leveled serious allegations of beatings against his father i.e. petitioner.

In view of above, this court without going into correctness of the same, deems it fit to dispose of the present petition with the directions to the learned court below to decide the main petition having been filed by the petitioner for visitation rights, expeditiously, preferably within a period of two months from today.

Learned counsel for the parties undertake to cause presence of their respective parties before learned court below on 28.4.2023, enabling it to do the needful in terms of this order, within the stipulated time.

Petition stands disposed of in the afore terms alongwith all pending applications.