LAHORE: The Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Umer Ata Bandial, ordered on Monday that non-custodial parents should be allowed to meet their children outside the guardian courts.

Dozens of petitions have been filed over time seeking reforms in the controversial Guardian and Wards Act, 1890.

The law and its guidelines are vague and obsolete, left at complete disposal of the judge’s interpretation.

The Act says that the welfare of the child must be kept in consideration, but it does not give a definition of what the welfare may be because, in many cases, the child is kept separate from one parent.

For non-custodial parents, there are several issues, starting with visitation rights.

Tariq Khattak, chairman of My Foundation, a group which speaks out over the issue, says: “We are given only two hours only once a month and that too within the guardian court itself. I have not seen my sons for about six months because my former spouse does not want them to see me. Does the court feel that the two hours will suffice? I cannot even dry my tears in this time.”

Shazia Mirza, a teacher and a non-custodial mother, says that mothers tend to suffer even more. “I meet one non-custodial mother a week, that is how many are there. Mothers are at a receiving end because many of them are socially and financially weak. My own case has been going on for 11 years. I was not able to meet my children for two whole years.”

Parents say that their emotional bond with their children has been destroyed, partly because of not being able to meet them and partly because, in many instances, one of the parents pitted the child against the other.

Instead of playing the role of a bridge, the courts are acting as a barrier between parents and children, they claim.

Asad Jamal, a high court lawyer, says that the issue of custody and related matters should be linked with the child protection and the social welfare department. “State intervention is extremely important,” he says. “Often the court passes orders, but they are not implemented. Usually the court acts instantly if the child is kidnapped, but it also tends to ignore issues such as visitation rights as if those are not considered as important.”

He says it is even more common that fathers are ignored. “Male judges can be prejudiced against fathers and in the same way many courts are prejudiced against mothers. In any case, the non-custodial spouse tends to suffer much more.”

Although no exact statistics are available, it is understood that more than 50 per cent of non-custodial parents, who have filed petitions, are fathers who have not seen their children for several months, but are still being asked to pay maintenance.

Also a very slow procedure of handling the case is appalling. Qamar Ramay of AGHS Legal Aid says that the cases are considered in the same slow way in which property cases are dealt with. True enough, the Lahore High Court figures show that pending guardian (custody) cases were around 2,486 in 2012 – 2,748 in 2013 – and 2,687 in 2014.

“Divorce results in a lot of family cases,” says Ramay. “We get at least 25 cases daily, but these are family cases which usually consist of child custody cases too.”

Ramay says joint custody is the ideal situation, but the age of the child must be kept into consideration.

A one-year-old would need his or her mother more than father but that does not mean a father’s visitation rights should be ignored.

The meeting venue is not a positive experience for a child, says Shazia whose children do not wish to meet her in the court. It is hot with no facilities like drinking water. There is no privacy and it is cacophonic. Occasionally, a custodian or a lawyer is also present overpowering the child, making him or her uncomfortable.

Now Justice Bandial has ordered that the meeting place must be temporarily shifted to a place with a more cordial atmosphere such as the Children’s Library Complex. There is a building within the complex which has 12 rooms out of which four have been allotted for non-custodial parents.

But the parents’ main goal is to shift even this place and be able to take their children home.

“We are not going to harm them, they are our children. Why we are not allowed to take them with us?” questions Shazia. “The balance of power shifts when one parent is given only 3 per cent of the time with the child and the other 97pc. During this time the child is brainwashed and sometimes even forgets the other parent. I think by making such unfair decisions the judges become partisan.”

Many parents think that the judges are untrained where family matters are concerned.

A judge, speaking off the record, admits that some judges are less empathetic than they should be. “They do not have training to handle sensitive family matters, and it pains me to say this about my own fraternity,” he says.

“They have no background of psychology or anything or even other than this, these are people who do not bother to investigate anything. Their decisions end up being biased and not based on evidence. But essentially in this case it is the law that should be amended by parliament so that it gives less space for lawyers and judges to do what they want.”