Law: Guardians and Wards Act, 1890

Section: VIII,25

Guardians and Wards Act (VIII of 1890)-------S. 25---Non-custodial parent, rights of---Minor girl---Overnight stay with father---Scope---Guardian Court, on the statement of the father, while dismissing his application for custody as withdrawn, issued a schedule of visitation on number of events/days (including Eids, birthday of minor, vacations) also allowing overnight stay of minor with father on certain terms---Father filed constitutional petition as the Appellate Court partially accepted the appeal of mother and framed new schedule for visitation , excluding overnight stay of minor girl with father--Validity---Non-custodial parent has all the rights to meet his/her children and neither right of access to his/her minor children can be denied nor a non-custodial parent will be considered as an alien to his/her children---A minor not only needs love, affection, care and attention of a mother but also the father and negating a non-custodial parent of his/her right to meet his/her minor children would lead to emotional deprivation---A non-custodial parent has an inherent right to effectively participate in upbringing of minor and that cannot be achieved without properly chalked visitation schedule---Due to lack of interaction with non-custodial parent, the children start forgetting and in many cases disliking the non-custodial parent and this phenomenon has been named as Parental Alienation Syndrome by the psychiatrists---Hence, visiting schedule significantly bridges a relationship between the minor children and a non-custodial parent---Using visitation rights, a noncustodial parent can not only recolour the emotions of minor children for him/her but also reinvigorate the bond of love and affection with the minor---Although, the law on the subject of visitation is contained in the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, but there are no guidelines about the duration, frequency of visits of minor and about the visitation schedule; hence, while deciding about the visitation schedule, the paramount consideration is the welfare of minor---Considering the paramount consideration of welfare of minor and rights of father/petitioner, High Court chalked new visitation schedule of…