The Court observed that the woman who had filed the contempt petition against the husband and his parents had herself acted in violation of the Family Court orders.
The Delhi High Court recently imposed a ₹50,000 cost on a woman who had filed petition against her estranged husband and in-laws, alleging they caused a disturbance during a child visitation.
However, the Court found that it was the woman who provoked her husband, leading to his reaction.
The Bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Renu Bhatnagar noted that the woman had recorded a video of the incident during visitation hours.
Upon reviewing the footage, the Court concluded that she had violated the family court’s orders and had instigated the situation.
“On watching the video, it is our considered opinion that in fact, it was the petitioner and persons along with her who were instigating the respondent no. 1 into reacting in the way he did,” the Court stated.
The woman moved the court alleging that her husband and his parents violated the family court’s orders by causing a commotion during their visit to the child, amounting to contempt of court.
“When the respondent reached the venue of visitation, he intentionally disturbed the petitioner, her family members, her employers with the sole aim of shattering her confidence, curb her source of living by trying to get her fired from work and reduce her existence to mere grovelling,” the woman said in her plea.
The Court observed from the video that the husband’s family attempted to defuse the situation, while the petitioner was seen mocking them.
“We further notice that in the video, the respondent no. 2 even tried to request the persons accompanying the petitioner not to mock the respondent no. 1 and to allow the visitation to take place peacefully. However, this request, as is apparent from the video, was again mocked at,” the Court observed.
Accordingly, the Court dismissed the contempt petition and imposed costs.
“We further direct the petitioner to pay a cost of ₹50,000 out of which ₹25,000 shall be paid to the respondent no. 1 while the remaining ₹25,000 shall be deposited with the Delhi High Court Advocates Welfare Fund, within a period of four weeks from today,” the Court ordered.