The Supreme Court recently allowed a father in a custody battle to meet his son at an ashram and a temple in Kerala.

A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and PS Narasimha had on October 3 allowed the father to meet his child at a mall, while modifying a family court directive that allowed him to meet his son at Court premises.

On October 31, the Court modified its October 3 order and allowed the man to take his son to the Amritapuri Ashram of Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi and the Padanayarkulangara Temple in Kerala’s Kollam.

As allowed earlier, the father can also meet the child at the mall in Kollam.

Such an interim arrangement will continue till the family court disposes of the child custody case, the top court said.

The Kerala High Court order and a family court order were being contested by the appeal being heard by the bench. The father was granted visitation rights by the family court, and they were to be used on Sundays in the courtroom between 11:00 am and 4:00 pm. The arrangement was upheld by the High Court. On October 3, the top court did, however, modify the order and state that the setting in which parental visitation rights are exercised is equally significant.

“We find that the repeated visitation rights in the Court premises, would also not be in the interest of the child as the environment during which the visitation rights are exercised, would also matter,” the bench had observed.

The Court today eventually disposed of the appeal on October 31 after modifying its October 3 order.