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NRI Father's Rights
A cry to save the girl child
Can NRIs approach Indian court against verdict given in U.S. ?
- The Supreme Court today decided to examine an important issue whether
it can interfere with decrees/orders passed by a US court.
New Delhi, May 28, 2008
Darshan Grewal
NRI Rana Roy was married to Ms. Nandini Chowdhuri and they have a nine-year-old daughter. They divorced by mutual consent in 2005 in a US court. The U.S. court granted divorce to the couple and the daughter stayed with the mother.
Ms. Nandini Chowdhuri remarried and visited India to see her sick father in Kolkata, where she admitted the daughter in school. The court gave Roy the right to visit his daughter. As per the directions of the U.S. court, she was to send her daughter to Mr. Roy during vacation.
Ms. Nandini Choudhuri challenged the US (New Jersey) court order in the Calcutta High Court, which upheld it and ordered her to visit New Jersey along with the child and let Roy meet his daughter there.
A vacation bench comprising Justices C K Thakker and L S Panta wanted the mother to bring her daughter to the court on June 4 so as to enable them to take her view — who would she like to be with, before giving any decision on the custodial litigation. The mother rushed to the Supreme Court as the Calcutta High Court refused to stay the rigour of a US court holding her to be in contempt for repatriating the child to India without prior permission and thereby depriving the father of visitation rights which he was granted after divorce.
On the other hand when Ms. Nandini Choudhuri did not appear before the US court after few attempts, the US court granted full custody of the child to the father and directed that she be brought back to the US.
In December 2007, according to the order of US court- father, Rana Roy was awarded sole physical and legal custody of the US citizen child.
Interestingly, father, Rana Roy had agreed to bear the travel cost of the mother Ms. Nandini Choudhuri and his daughter including their lodging and boarding expenses in New Jersey.
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Dr. Surinder Mehta who often recommend divorce and clergy who acquiesce in it - must become voices for the children urging parents to be more responsible. The children of parents who reject each other suffer: in deep emotional pain, ill health, depression, anxiety, even shortened life span; more drop out of school, less go to college, they earn less income, they develop more addictions to drugs and alcohol, and they engage in increased violence or suffer it within their homes.
Regardless of the type of parental separation, parents who said they had
a court order for custody were much more likely to also say that the issues
of living arrangements and visiting rights were a source of tension than parents
who did not have a court order.