The Delhi High Court on Tuesday allowed a Ukrainian woman to return to her native Ukraine.
New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday allowed a Ukrainian woman to return to her home country with her five-year-old son, who was brought to India by her ex-husband after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in March 2022.
The woman traveled to India and filed a habeas corpus petition in court to give birth to the child.
A division bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Amit Bansal dismissed the appeal filed by Akhilesh Gupta and upheld the Family Court order dismissing custody petition on grounds of territorial jurisdiction.
The High Court noted that the appellant Akhilesh Gupta had taken his minor son to India in violation of the decision of the competent Ukrainian authorities.
The High Court held that the appellant could not be allowed to take advantage of his mistake.
“Even on the merits of the case, we do not believe that the separation of the minor, now five years old, from his mother and sister, who live in Vinnitsa, Ukraine, is not in their best interests.
The Family Court, while passing the impugned judgment, interacted with the minor child on November 17, 2023, who expressed his wish to return to Ukraine with his mother and stated that he did not want to talk to the appellant and his family members ,” said the Divisional Judge.
The High Court held that the appellant did not have the financial means to support his minor children. In this regard, it is pertinent to mention that this Court vide its order dated January 29, 2024, directed the appellant to pay litigation costs of Rs.1,50,000/-.
“However, the appellant stated that he was unable to deposit the said amount due to financial difficulties,” the court said.
The High Court held, “We are therefore of the considered opinion that it would not be in the best interests of the minor child to remain in India and be separated from his mother and sister, both emotionally and financially.”
The High Court said that under Article 10(2), state parties must respect the right of children and their parents to leave and enter any country, including their own.
Akhilesh Gupta filed an appeal seeking to set aside the judgment passed by the learned Judge of the Patiala Family Court on November 23, 2023 whereby the custody petition filed on behalf of the appellant/father seeking custody of the appellant’s son was dismissed.
The appellant married the respondent Snizhana Grygorivna on November 18, 2000 in the city of Vinnitsa, Ukraine. The marriage gave birth to two children: a baby girl born on November 24, 2002, and a baby boy born on February 12, 2019. .Both children were born in Ukraine and were therefore Ukrainian citizens by birth.
Akhilesh Gupta sought visitation rights for his minor son from the Executive Committee of the Vinnitsa City Council and was granted permission in a decision on July 15, 2021. Pursuant to the above decision, the appellant was granted a period of supervised visitation followed by unsupervised visitation for two months.
On February 24, 2022, a war broke out between Ukraine and Russia. Akhilesh Gupta set out from Ukraine with his minor son on March 23, 2022, and arrived in India on March 28, 2022. The minor child was approximately three years old at the time. Thereafter, she approached the Delhi High Court through her lawyer.
On July 28, 2023, the Coordination Chamber of this Court transferred the temporary custody of the minor children from the appellant to the mother. The subject will hand over her passport and the passports of her minor children to the Station House Officer (SHO) of Vasant Kunj Police Station.
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