SC permits divorced US-based man to meet daughter

New Delhi, Jun 4 (UNI) The Supreme Court today resolved a dispute over custody of a girl child between two NRI parents by permitting the US-based father to meet her.

A Vacation Bench comprising Justices C K Thakkar and Lokeshwar Singh Panta passed the order, after talking to the eight-year-old girl, permitting the father to meet the child between 1100 hrs and 1300 hrs any day.

During interaction with the judges, the girl expressed her unwillingness to go to US.

The mother, who had already been divorced from her husband, remarried and has a child also from her second marriage, had moved the apex court against the Calcutta High Court order dated April 30 this year that dismissed her petition.

The mother had sought directions to the father not to take away the child to the US from her custody, expressing apprehensions that he would not return the child to her.

The mother had come to India with the daughter from the US where she was facing contempt of court action for defying a court order directing her to let the father meet the child.

With today's order, the proceedings pending in the New Jersey court, US, have been rendered infructuous.

The bench, while directing that the child would not be taken to the US, granted liberty to the father to approach the trial court at Alipore in West Bengal in case he faced any problem in meeting the child personally, on telephone or through the Internet as per the orders of the apex court.

The estranged couple had married in Kolkata on December 14, 1996, according to Hindu rites and were divorced by mutual consent in the US.

UNI SC RC RP AS1706