India, June 11 -- A parent should not be denied permission to visit their child on the ground that the wife has not been paid maintenance, the Orissa high court has said, observing that the visitation right of a child is considered on a different pedestal of welfare of the child, which is paramount in considering the application.

Dismissing a petition by the child's mother in Odisha's Jharsuguda district on May 14, a bench of justice G Satpathy said the child was always the victim in custody battles "and in the fight of egos and acrimonies between two spouses".

"The child is not an inanimate object which can be tossed from one parent to other. This Court is of the considered opinion that excepting the extreme circumstance, one parent sh...