Dubai: An Indian court’s ruling awarding an Indian mother full custody of her two-year-old daughter after the father kidnapped the girl, has been recognised by Dubai Court.
The 37-year-old Indian mother, requested Dubai Civil Court to recognise a foreign country’s judgement which is now pending enforcement, to give the custody of the child to her after the Indian father brought the child to Dubai using a passport from a Caribbean country, which he issued without the mother’s knowledge.
Emirati lawyer Awatif Mohammad Khouri from Al Rowaad Advocates, representing the toddler’s mother told Dubai Civil Court that the Indian court’s judgement was issued in September 2019 after her client’s husband abducted the child amid an ongoing legal battle between the couple over the toddler’s custody.
Court documents show that after arriving to Dubai in August last year, the 41-year-old husband filed a case with Dubai Personal Status Court against his wife seeking divorce and full custody of their daughter.
Lawyer Awatif requested the court dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction in accordance with Article 6 of UAE’s Federal Personal Status Law number 28, since her client is not a UAE resident and her husband was aware of her address in India.
On February 20 this year, the Dubai personal status court dismissed the divorce and custody case by the Indian father.
Moreover, the Emirati lawyer, filed an application to the civil courts requesting that full custody is awarded to her client by recognising the Indian court’s ruling based on a treaty signed between UAE and India.
Records showed that despite the child’s Caribbean country passport being cancelled by the government of the country which issued it as a result of the kidnap, another application to impose a travel ban on the child was submitted to the court to prevent the father from taking the girl away again without the mother’s knowledge.
However, the husband had appealed against the sentence issued by Dubai’s Personal Status Court and a judgement in his appeal will be issued on March 8.
