Shivangi Prakash-
Published on: August 8, 2021, at 11:36 IST
A woman is waging a long Court battle to reclaim custody of her minor nephew from his Egyptian father, who reportedly sexually tormented and committed pedophilic acts with the child.
The man and the child fled India in February 2020, and they are yet to be found.
The petitioner’s sister died on April 17, 2019, shortly after the child was born in Pune. The petitioner relocated to Egypt with the man to take care of the newborn child.
The petitioner claimed in the plea that the child’s father made sexual attempts toward her in August 2019 and, to her surprise, she discovered he had pedophilic tendencies toward the 4-month-old baby.
The newborn’s aunt filed a complaint in Pune alleging that the Egyptian man had sexually harassed her and the baby.
Later, the father filed a habeas corpus petition in Bombay High Court, saying that his child was being held in illegal custody by his maternal aunt and grandmother.
The woman and her mother filed a petition with the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling, alleging that they received an email from the father claiming that he had taken the child to Egypt.
The father was supposed to bring the child to India four times a year, according to the High Court’s order, but he didn’t, according to the petitioners.
In addition, the petitioners were unable to communicate with the child via video call.
The petitioners sought direction from the CBI to bring back the child to India. The Top Court also requested the Indian Embassy to use its good offices to ensure that access is provided to the petitioners on a video conferencing platform to converse with the child.
After learning that man is still untraceable, a bench headed by Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Mukesh Shah said “This is a heart-rending case”.
“The Court has also been apprised of the fact that there is a treaty of 2008 for mutual legal assistance between the Government of India and the Government of Egypt”, the Court added.
Supreme Court has listed the matter for further hearing on September 15.
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