K'taka HC allows woman to take child to Australia after ex-husband fails to appear in court
Bengaluru, Jan 29: The High Court of Karnataka has allowed a 34-year-old woman to take her child to Australia and settle down there without her former husband's consent.
Justice M Nagaprasanna allowed the plea of the mother under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 after the biological father failed to attend the court proceedings. Rakshitha sought legal sanction to obtain permanent residence for her son in Australia.
The petitioner, who is residing in Australia, moved the High Court against her first husband CC Shashikumar, a farmer from Kunigal.
The couple was married in 2006 and after the birth of the daughter their relationship turned sour, leading to divorce. Both, had filed a compromise divorce petition with certain conditions.
One of the conditions of the petition was that the former husband would have visitation rights to the only child.
The woman filed an application before the Family Court in 2022 for relaxation of this clause as her former husband had not even once visited the child in the last 8 years.
As the father of the child did not respond to the court's summons, the court cancelled the visitation rights.
The mother and child were living in Australia on Tourist visa, which is set to expire. Hence, she sought to secure a permanent visa to settle down permanently in Australia.
As per the terms of Migration Rules of the Australian Government, the woman was required to produce a legal custody document of the child and written permission of the local court to take the minor child out of the jurisdiction of India.
Subsequently, the woman had filed a plea in the Family Court seeking permission to take the child to Australia, under Section 26 of the Act.
However, the court rejected the application saying a fresh petition has to be filed seeking custody of the child "as the Court becomes functus officio once the proceedings are closed."
The woman then approached the high court, which delivered the judgement on January 19, 2023.
Allowing the plea, the bench said it was appropriate to grant the permission "to take the child beyond the shores of this nation as was prayed for in the application only to avoid multiplicity of litigation which eventually will result in an order of this kind as the husband has not been contesting the matter in any of the proceedings and the child in terms of the compromise is already in the custody of the mother/wife/petitioner."
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CM playing cheap politics: Delhi LG office denies Atishi's temple demolition charge
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Tuesday alleged that an order was issued by a panel on the "directions of Lt Governor VK Saxena" for demolition of multiple Hindu and Buddhist religious structures, a charge refuted by the LG office as "cheap politics".
The LG secretariat in a statement said neither are any temples, mosques, churches or any other place of worship being demolished, nor has any file in this regard was received by it.
In a letter to LG Saxena, the chief minister said she was informed that the 'Religious Committee', in a meeting on November 22, ordered for demolition of the religious structures in the national capital.
It has been decided by the Religious Committee "on your directions, and with your approval" to demolish multiple religious structures across Delhi, the chief minister claimed.
In a sharp reply, the LG secretariat alleged that the chief minister is playing "cheap politics" to divert attention from her as well as her predecessor Arvind Kejriwal's "failures".
"If at all, the LG has issued strict instructions to the police to maintain extra vigil against forces who may indulge in deliberate vandalism for political benefits. His instructions are being strictly followed, as was witnessed during the just gone Christmas celebrations which did not see any untoward incident," the LG secretariat said.
In her letter, Atishi said the list of religious structures to be demolished includes many temples and Buddhist places of worship,
The religious structures were situated at West Patel Nagar, Dilshad Garden, Sunder Nagri, Seema Puri, Gokal Puri and Usmanpur, as per the list furnished by the chief minister.
Atishi requested Saxena in her letter to prevent "demolition" of the religious structures, saying it would hurt the sentiments of the communities concerned.
Earlier, all decisions of the Religious Committee were sent to the LG office via chief minister and the home minister, she said, adding the government would then ensure that no religious sentiments were hurt due to such action, she said.
The chief minister said an order was issued last year by the LG office stating that demolition of religious structures is a matter related to "public order" and would be directly under the purview of the LG.
"Since then the work of the Religious Committee has been directly monitored by you. All files of the Religious Committee are routed from the Home department to the the LG office, completely bypassing the chief minister and the home minister," she said in the letter to the LG.
