The Delhi High Court on Monday was informed by the city police that it had tracked down the ex-husband of a Ukrainian woman, who she accused of abducting her 3-year-old son and bringing him to India.
The man, an India national identified as Akhilesh Gupta, appeared before the court on Monday and the matter was listed for next hearing on Wednesday. The division bench of justices Sidharth Mridul and Amit Sharma was apprised that the accused ex-husband had been traced.
As the court asked where was the child, the counsel for Akhilesh informed that the child was down with fever and hence couldn’t be produced. The ex-husband also gave an undertaking in court that he would bring the child on the next date of hearing in the matter. The court was also informed about the child’s name.
Standing counsel for the central government, Ajay Digpaul, informed the court that the father and son arrived in India on March 28, this year. The mother, who was connected to the proceedings through video conferencing, asked enquired after the wellbeing of her son throough an interpreter. The court informed her that the child was fine.
The court adjourned the matter for Wednesday on the request of counsel as the senior counsel for the petitioner, the Ukrainian woman, was not available. The bench directed the father to remain present in court on the next hearing on Wednesday.
The high court on 2 November issued notices to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs and the Delhi police on a habeas corpus plea moved by a Ukrainian woman to locate her missing 3-year-old son.
The woman claimed that the child was illegally brought to India by her ex-husband, who is his father, in March, amid the raging armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia. The HC bench directed Delhi Police to locate the man and his son.
The bench also issued notice to the man, asking him to appear before the court at the earliest.
The woman, who filed the habeus corpus plea through advocate Sravan Kumar, answered the court’s queries through a translator virtually.
The petitioner told the bench that she is a divorcee and the custody of her son was granted to her in 2021 by a Ukraine court. She claimed that her ex-husband took their son away without informing her, by forging documents.
“The first priority is to locate your son. We will hear you thereafter. We will ask further questions if needed, once your son is located,” the bench said.
The woman, in her petition, also claimed that her ex-husband had been sighted in Assam and Bihar. He was living with his mother in Guwahati, she claimed.
The bench told petitioner’s counsel, “When you have information that he is in Guwahati, why did you not move to Gauhati High Court? Now, Delhi Police will be hard-pressed to locate them in Assam. It is your own case that he was sighted in Assam or Bihar and you are moving to Delhi High Court.”