Mumbai, January 23: It’s yet another inter-country child custody tiff before the Bombay high court. A US-based father has filed a habeas corpus petition seeking the production of his daughters, aged five and four, who have allegedly been kept in India by their mother.
Som, 38, who has filed the habeas corpus petition through his father, has stated in his petition that there is no valid reason for his wife Mira, 33, to refuse to return to USA with the children.
The petition states that the engineer-architect couple was married on November 11, 2001 through a matrimonial advertisement in a newspaper. The couple moved to Minnesota, USA, in 2002 and had been settled there. While in USA, Som’s petition states, there was no dispute between him and Mira and she had never complained of being unhappy about anything.
In June 2006, the entire family came to India to attend a relative’s wedding in Indore. After that, Som stated, during their three-week vacation, the family visited Som’s parents in Mumbai and Mira’s parents in Pune. On July 22, 2008, Som returned to USA and Mira was expected to return with the children in September.
According to this petition, Mira had distanced herself from him and did not reply to his emails. She did not return to the US on the scheduled date and gave no reason for the same.
Mira’s parents told Som that she wanted to be alone. Mira had herself said she had no intention to return to the US. It is only after his return that Som realised that she had taken all her gold jewellery and $4,500 cash from their Minnesota home.
On December 21, a US court gave an emergency order to Mira to return with the children who are both American citizens. In the meantime, Mira too filed a petition seeking maintenance from Som in the family court at Pune. Denied access to his children, Som therefore moved the Bombay high court.
Som’s advocate Vasant Dhawan said that Mira has been given time till February 10 to file a reply. “It is only when she files a reply that we will know why she never wanted to go back. She has only filed a maintenance petition and not sought divorce,” Dhawan said.
–Agencies–