New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Vijaysree Voora, the run-away NRI mother to return to
the US along with her minor son Aditya and husband
Ravichandran within 15 days.
A bench of justices Tarun Chatterji, R M Lodha and B S
Chauhan ruled that if Vijaysree fails to comply with the
direction, the husband would be entitled to the custody of the
child after the 15 days period and can take him to the US on
his own.
While giving the direction, the court said the husband
would bear all expenses for their return and stay in the US
till they move the appropriate court in New York for custody
of the child.
The apex court passed the direction on a Habeas
Corpus petition filed by Ravichandran, who had full custodial
rights of the child. His estranged wife had fled to India
along with Aditya in 2007 and kept on dodging police of Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Assam.
The CBI, after taking up the investigation on August
29 this year in pursuance of the apex court`s direction,
managed to apprehend Vijaysree and Aditya on October 25 from
Chennai and produced before it.
Following a divorce decree by a court in New York in
June 2007, joint custody rights of the child were granted to
the estranged couple who were domiciled in the US. However,
Vijaysree subsequently breached the joint custody consent
decree and fled to India.
After Vijaysree fled the US along with her minor son,
the court there converted the joint custody rights into full
custody rights in favour of Ravichandran.
Bureau Report
