Govt messed up case: Experts
The Indian government has come in for sharp criticism from some legal experts for “messing up” the issue of the custody of two minor NRI children in Norway, saying the court there was allowed to apply the domestic laws of that country in their case “wrongly” in contravention of the UN Convention on Child Right while the case ought to have been dealt under “personal laws” applicable to the parents.
Lawyers conversant with inter-continental and inter-country laws on child custody and often taking up such cases in the courts of different countries, entirely blame the Indian consular in Norway for allowing the matter to come to this stage by not providing timely legal help to Anurup and Sagrika Bhattacharya when the issue of the custody of their minor son and daughter Abhigyan and Aishwarya cropped up eight months ago in May.
“As the children and their parents are Indian nationals and Hindu by religion they are governed by the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act (HMGA), which is the personal law applicable to them irrespective of their temporary Norwegian domicile,” advocate Anil Malhorta, based in Chandigarh and fighting child custody cases in several countries told this newspaper.
Mr Malhotra, whose recent book on NRIs’ numerous problems on applicability of personal laws in foreign courts has been hailed in the legal circle, said Indian consular was not only “negligent” in extending the legal help to Bhattacharyas but also “failed” to apprise the Norwegian court that the case has to be dealt only under HMGA under the UN Convention on Child Right.
“Had this fact been brought to the notice of the Norwegian court and the Child Protection Services (CPS) of that country at the very beginning, the things would have not come to such a pass as the court there was bound to apply the provisions of HMGA in he case,” Mr Malhotra claimed. Identical views were expressed by several other lawyers, dealing with the cases of NRIs relating to conflicts in personal laws of different countries.
At the most the Norwegian court could have directed the deportation of the couple if it found them violating the laws of that country by being “negligent and unable to bring up” their children as per the standards set by their laws, he said.
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