The Karnataka High Court Wednesday granted the Centre two weeks to respond to the question of deportation of the two minor children of a Russian woman, Nina Kutina, found living with her in a cave in the state’s Uttara Kannada district earlier this month.
A bench of Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav was hearing a plea filed by Dror Goldstein, the Israeli father of the girls aged 5 and 6. In his petition, Goldstein asked the Centre not to proceed with the deportation of his children, and for a court order releasing them from their current custody or detention to him. He also requested an order directing the Centre to allow him to meet his children.
Goldstein’s counsel argued against the deportation on the grounds that it would be against the rights of the children under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), of which India is a signatory. The counsel also sought an interim order against the deportation in the court, as the petition could be rendered “infructuous” if the children are deported.
Karnataka Additional Solicitor General Arvind Kamath, appearing for the Centre, stated that no travel records were available or records of her birth regarding the younger child. Kamath added that, in the absence of the travel documents, there were no reasonable grounds for apprehension of deportation.
The court order noted the submission, “The question of deportation would be considered only after any stand is taken regarding travel documents of Ms. Ama Kutina… the respondents (Centre) are granted time to take their stand in writing within a period of two weeks… Needless to state that, if there is any proposal for deportation before the next date of hearing, the respondents are at liberty to move the Court.”
The matter is set to be heard again on August 18.
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As previously reported by The Indian Express, Goldstein is seeking shared custody of the children. He also filed a complaint at the Panaji Police Station in Goa last December, after he was unable to find them upon his return to India.
Kutina and her daughters were found by the police on July 11 in the Ramatirtha hills in Karnataka’s Kumta taluk, where they had been living in a cave for around two months without any valid documents to live in the country.