The Bombay High Court recently ordered film producer Mushtaq Nadiadwala to produce the address of his wife in Pakistan in connection with his petition seeking to bring back his children to India.
A division bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Sharmila Deshmukh was hearing the matter.
The film producer expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s response to his request for a status report on his children, who he claims are still in Pakistan.
He cited a September 21 court order directing the government to make the report public.
Appearing for Nadiadwala, Advocate Beni Chatterji informed the bench that his children were studying in India and there was a video that was shot at the airport where they could be seen saying that they would come back.
Advocate Ashish Chavan, representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded stating that the ministry had already given a status report and there was a guardianship petition filed by the mother with an existing order.
Advocate Chatterji then cited a decision in which it was determined that the native country would have jurisdiction and that, because the children had left India, the Bombay High Court would have jurisdiction because India would be the children’s native jurisdiction.
The bench questioned Nadiadwala if he had a copy of his wife’s plea for custody of the children filed in Lahore, to which Mushtaq’s counsel replied that they did not yet have it. The bench asked Mushtaq to supply the petition’s address and information, and stated that it will issue suitable directions after analyzing the materials.
Mushtaq Nadiadwala, who was in the court, consented to submit the address and requested that the next hearing be set for the following week, which the bench agreed to do on 3rd April 2023.
Advocate Chatterji also asked the bench whether they may send a notice to the Pakistan High Commission, and the bench stated it will consider it on Monday.
In his appeal, Nadiadwala alleged that his wife, Maryam Chaudhary, and her relatives had illegally detained his children in Pakistan, and he accused Maryam of abandoning him without reasons and refusing to return to India.
According to the petition, Nadiadwala married Maryam in April 2012 in Pakistan after she migrated to India and applied for Indian citizenship. They had two children later in life.
Maryam and her two children departed from India to Pakistan in November 2020.
Maryam then filed a guardianship petition in Lahore in February 2021, requesting that she be designated as the legal guardian of their two children. Her petition was accepted by the Lahore court. Nadiadwala suspected Maryam had been coerced or influenced to stay in Pakistan longer.
During the previous hearing, the Union of India filed a status report stating that it has yet to receive a response from the Government of Pakistan regarding the whereabouts of the children of the producer Mushtaq Nadiadwala, who are allegedly detained in Pakistan by his wife since 2020.
According to the status report, despite two reminders sent to the Government of Pakistan in October 2022 and February 2023, the government had received no response.
“To date, no response has been received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Pakistan, to the three notes issued by the High Commission of India (in) Islamabad,” the report reads.
According to the status report, the government will continue to follow up on the matter with the government of Pakistan.
The report further reads, “The government of India is following up the matter with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan, to obtain the details/whereabouts of the two minor children and will continue to pursue the matter with the Government of Pakistan.”
