MUMBAI: Bombay HC refused to further delay the trip of a woman and her 9-year-old son to visit her parents in Singapore after her ex-husband tried to stop it. The trip was originally scheduled between December 22 and January 4.
“I am not willing to interfere with the permission granted by family court (FC), which has authorized the respondent mother and minor son to travel to Singapore within the parameters set by the court,” Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan said on Thursday.
In September 2022, SC dissolved the couple’s marriage and approved the consent terms. Neither of them would take their son out of India without giving the other four weeks’ notice. In contempt proceedings filed by both, SC on January 19 said the terms of consent could be modified by an appropriate legal forum.
So after FC’s order, the father moved HC’s vacation bench, saying that the mother is a flight risk as she and her son are Singapore citizens.
Senior advocate Abad Ponda said his interests would be at risk if his son did not return. Justice Sundaresan said, on the contrary, that the terms of consent bind the parties and that “it is for the father to ensure that there is no impediment to such travel… provided for in the terms of consent.”
The mother’s advocate, Mrunalini Deshmukh, said it emerged that she and her son are Singapore citizens during the signing of the consent terms. He referred to the mother’s commitment to the FC to return as planned on January 4.
Justice Sundaresan said that the father’s fear of flight risk is allayed by the mother’s commitments to FC, and he reiterated this in person to HC.
The father raised an issue with the renewal of the mother’s leave and leave agreement.
The judge said he “does not turn the needle in favor of preventing the departure of the defendant and the minor son on the proposed vacation trip. I see no basis for further delaying the proposed trip.”
He further noted that, having delayed the original departure, the mother was willing to incur additional costs to book new tickets so that she could travel immediately.
Judge Sundaresan rejected Ponda’s request to interview the boy, saying the terms of the consent “are loud and clear in relation to the said trip.”
