NRIs want separate courts

In view of the ugly and long-drawn custody battle between South Africa-based PIO Rishi Nandlal and his wife Deepti over their four-year-old-son in Bombay high court, the NRI community has urged the Indian government to set up a separate court to deal with cases relating to property, matrimonial and child custody disputes.

In a meeting held during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Chennai, the Global Organisation of People of India Origin (GOPIO) urged India to become a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction that makes it binding for a country to respect the orders of a foreign court relating to child custody or access cases.

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (1980), is a civil legal mechanism available to parents seeking the return of or access to their children who have been wrongful removed or detained in another country that is a party to the convention.