AHMEDABAD: Putting an end to the battle involving an NRI couple for custody of their three children, the Gujarat high court ordered the father to send the children to their mother in New Zealand.
The father had brought children to India on the pretext of attending social functions, kept them here and did not take them back to New Zealand despite an order issued by a NZ high court.
According to the case details, the couple married in India in 2010. The man had been living in New Zealand since 2002. After the wedding, the wife also joined him in New Zealand. They had a son, who was brought to India in 2015 and the father did not take him back. The couple then had twin sons, who were also brought to India by the father in 2017 and their custody was entrusted to his mother and sister. His wife continued to ask him to bring the children back, but the family admitted them to a boarding school in Mehsana.
The mother tried to meet the children but failed. She even approached a local court in search of her children, but her application was rejected on the grounds that the children were in the custody of their grandmother and aunt and this was not illegal. In 2018, the woman came to know that her husband had returned to New Zealand and she followed him. She moved a New Zealand high court, which in 2019 ordered the father to return the children to New Zealand saying their removal from the country and retention in India by the father was completely illegal and wrong.
The father did not heed the NZ high court order and kept the children in India. They were shifted to a Bengaluru boarding school. The woman approached Gujarat HC and sought their custody in 2020. Two years later, the HC held that the children’s custody should be with the mother. The judges said, “Children would need both the parents and while spouses can cease to act as husband and wife, they cannot cease to be parents ever.”
The HC ordered the father to take the children to New Zealand within eight weeks or arrange for their return by providing air tickets.
The children’s custody should be handed over to the mother in the presence of the barrister appointed by the NZ high court.
The father has been ordered to disclose travel details, and once the children reach New Zealand, the order of the NZ HC should be followed with regard to visitation and custody.
The father has been ordered to take the children there before March 25. If the travel details are not furnished to the mother’s lawyer, it will be presumed that he has no intention of travelling and the handing over of custody to the mother should take place in the presence of the Gujarat HC registrar (judicial) by February 25.
The HC also said that the mother, if she wishes, can come down to India and take custody and the father should bear the expenses, or the mother should appoint a trusted person to take the children to New Zealand.
