SC unites child with UK mom, 4 yrs after she was abandoned by father in Shimla
New Delhi: In a heart-warming move, the Supreme Court on Monday played a Good Samaritan and united a 10-year-old Polish child with her UK mother, four years after she was taken away and abandoned by her father in Shimla.
The girl was taken away at the age of six in December 2012 from Leicestershire UK to Shimla by her biological father Amarjit Singh, who is also a resident of UK. Singh was not married to the girl’s mother. Singh then admitted and abandoned his daughter in a boarding school in Shimla. Her mother is also a Polish National and permanent resident of UK.
A Bench headed by Justice J.S. Khehar set aside the Himachal Pradesh High Court order refusing custody to the mother and directed the school to hand over the custody of the child Julia Isabella Sobieraj to the mother Beater Agnieszka Sobieraj when she comes from the UK.
The child’s return was stuck in obtaining the approval from the Indian Government ever since Interpol Manchestor informed Interpol Delhi of the abduction. Her father had been arrested on his return to UK from India on March 15, 2013 and subsequently convicted and imprisoned for 3 years in UK on November 27, 2015.
Reunite, CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service ) in the UK that represents children in family court cases entrusted the case to advocate Pritpal Singh Nijjar. A strong case was made out for the child’s return because it was considered a clear abduction case and not an inter-continental parental custody dispute which is coming up in Indian Courts on regular basis.
Armed with orders passed by UK court, the mother Beater Agnieszka Sobieraj filed a habeas corpus petition in the Himachal Pradesh High Court which dismissed it in March this year. The HC held that the mother will only have visitation rights and the boarding school Alka Academy, VPO Baru Sahib, will have custody. The present appeal is directed against this order. The apex court allowed the appeal and united the child with her mother.
