chandigarh

Updated: Feb 06, 2019 19:38 IST

A Dubai court has awarded the custody of a three-year-old boy to his mother, directing her ex-husband, a native of Haryana’s Raipur Rani, to handover the boy to her within a month.

Granting divorce to the couple, the court, in its January 23 order, said if the boy’s father, Shahid Hussain, did not comply with the orders by February 23, it would issues his arrest warrants in line with the UAE laws.

Originally issued in Arabic, the court order translated into English was made available recently.

The boy’s mother Naseem Akhtar, who hails from Malerkotla in Punjab, and currently resides in Dubai, has been struggling to regain the custody of her son Ryan since January 2018, when her husband snatched the boy, then two years old, from her in India and fled to Nepal.

The divorce was granted from January 4, 2018, when Naseem last saw her husband and son.

Speaking to HT over the phone, Akhtar that Shahid and her son Ryan were in Nepal, as per records of the immigration authorities.

The Regional Passport Office, Chandigarh, which had suspended Shahid’s passport to prevent him from entering or exiting India, has issued alerts to authorities concerned regarding Shahid’s possible presence in Nepal.

After marrying him in August 2014, Naseem had joined Shahid in Sharjah, where he used to work then.

In a complaint lodged before the Sangrur police, Naseem had submitted that during their visit to India in January 2018, Shahid took her and her son to Delhi at his friend’s apartment, where he assaulted her for six days. On their way back to Malerkotla, Shahid assaulted her again, snatched her breastfeeding son, and fled with their passport and other education documents.

After filing the FIR, Naseem got another passport made and returned to Sharjah, eventually relocating to Dubai.

After this, Shahid travelled to Nepal on February 6 with their son, following which his Indian passport was suspended on February 27. But, he somehow managed to return to UAE on April 1. On checking his immigration status later, Naseem found that as of December 20, both Shahid and her son were in Nepal.

Court order

The Dubai court in its order directed Shahid to pay a lump sum compensation of 10,000 United Arab Emirates dirham (AED), 40,000 AED as rent for Naseem’s dwelling, in addition to a one-time payment for her furniture (15,000 AED), along with payment of electricity, water and internet bill in a sum not exceeding 1,000 AED.

The court also ordered an alimony of 6,000 AED for the waiting period’s expenses while restoring Naseem’s educational documents, etc., to her.

The court also directed Shahid to pay an alimony of 1,500 AED per month and AED 500 every Eid-Ul-Fitr and Eid-Ul-Adha.

Besides, he will have to pay a fosterage remuneration of 5,000 AED per month for her son, in addition to taking a health insurance for him, paying his school fees and related expenses.

Easy escape to Nepal

Naseem said despite a lookout circular against Shahid and impounding of his passport, Shahid had been using the Nepal route to move in and out of India since January 2018, while giving her no details regarding the exact whereabouts of their son ever since.

“My son has a digestion problem, and needs breast milk. He used to hit our son so often during his fits of rage,” shared a concerned Naseem.

Indian nationals do not require a visa or passport to travel to and from Nepal. In fact, any proof of identity is enough, including a driving licence with photo, a voter ID card, a ration card or even some identity document issued by authorities in Kathmandu. From Kathmandu, they can take a flight to India or can just cross over by road.