A warrant officer, which was appointed by the High Court on Monday, rescued the children from Dhall’s resident with the help of UT police and produced them before the court on Tuesday.
After rescuing two minor Australian citizens from the illegal custody of their father, Sham Sunder Dhall, a resident of Sector-19 Chandigarh, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday ordered the Chandigarh police to raid Dhall’s residence to trace the passports of the children so that they can be sent back to their country. The directions came from Justice AB Chaudhari on a petition moved by mother, Navjinder Kaur, an Australian citizen. A warrant officer, which was appointed by the High Court on Monday, rescued the children from Dhall’s resident with the help of UT police and produced them before the court on Tuesday.
Questioned by the court, Vansh(12) and Bhumi(11), submitted that they want to stay with their mother and would like to go back to Australia to continue their studies. Petitioner’s counsel informed that the tourist visa of both the minors expired on February 9.
Justice Chaudhari ordered custody of the minors to be given to their mother from the court itself and observed that the father hardly has any interest in the children since he did not come to the court despite being called. The court also ordered the Chandigarh administration and the Central government to help the children for an extension or grant visa for going back to Australia.
In January this year when their school closed for holidays, Dhall brought them to India allegedly along with his third wife after getting Kaur’s permission. Though children’s tourist visa expired on February 9 but despite repeated requests by the Kaur, Dhall refused to send the children to Australia, saying that their passports have been stolen.
The petitioner reached Chandigarh on February 18 and moved the High Court seeking release of children from Dhall’s illegal custody.
Source: IndianExpress