it was not easy for rohan name changed to feign happiness when his friends discussed their plans for durga puja kolkata is decked up like a bride and a festive energy flowed through the veins of the city rohan woke up early with thoughts of his fatherhe will be meeting him after a long time deep inside his heart he knew they would not be going pandal hopping like other kids or eat jalebis from the famous sweetshop that other parents would be taking their children to he readied himself to spend an hour with his father in a public place but what he did not know was that they would under the surveillance of cctvs and a group of policemen dressed in plain clothes all because his parents now legally separated are fighting for child custody during this festive season yes children of legally separated couples are suffering heavily during the festive season of durga puja while other children are busy doing rounds in the pandals watching idols or participating in various celebrations certain unfortunate young souls are compelled to dwell in uncertainty regarding the matter of legal custodyaccording to a recent report published in ei samay magistrate sambuddha chakraborty of the vacational bench of the calcutta high court personally asked three children who are staying with their legally separated mother regarding their wish among them the sixyearold girl child wished to stay with her mother while her younger brothers wished to see their father during the durga puja the father a chartered accountant by profession was granted the permission to meet them during the festive days for an hour every day at public park under police surveillancewelfare of the minor is of paramount consideration but parents tend to ignore thataccording to dr vageshwari deswal senior faculty member faculty of law delhi university the law has the best interest of the child but parents forget to take this into consideration while fighting for a childs legal custody as per the section 13 of the hindu minor and guardianship act welfare of the minor is of paramount consideration said deswal adding however a child is made to suffer because of irresponsible parenting the children could have spent a better time during this season if the parents would have acted in an amicable wayone of the major objectives of the law is to make sure that a child remains unscathed but lack of trust makes many parents take irrational steps and end up hurting their children disputing parents have a feeling of mistrust a mother might think that the child may be harmed by his father if left alone while they act on their impulses the best interest of the child is somewhere lost added deswalthe child should not be deprived of maintaining a relationship with either parental figures image shutterstockthere are perhaps hundreds of children of legally separated parents who dread festivals or for that matter any occasion that requires a family according to dr samir parikh director mental health