`Don`t want negativity around him`: Delhi HC reunites 3-yr-old with Ukrainian mom

Delhi High Court asked the boy`s mother and sister to meet him in the high court creche during the day and said the parties shall remain present in the court on Tuesday. In an endeavour to reunite the child with his mother and sister, the court had earlier asked the family to spend some time together at the creche

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Monday said it does not want any negativity around a three-year-old "traumatised" boy, who was brought to India by his father from Ukraine allegedly illegally and asked his parents not to articulate inconsequential issues. The boy was brought to India during the Russia-Ukraine war. The court said the idea behind allowing the mother, a Ukrainian, to meet her son in a Delhi High Court she was to enable her to spend time with the child. She shall be with the child rather than complaining "all the time", it said. At the outset, the woman's counsel submitted before the high court bench that during their meeting, the boy was addressing the woman as "aunty" and the father did not allow the mother to give food to the child.

To this, a bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh said it was not the case that the child was hungry or that the man was not taking proper care of the son. "You don't realise. The purpose is to let the mother and sister meet the child. The idea is to spend time together. It is good that now he recognises his mother and sister. "This is not contentious litigation, this is a habeas corpus. Be with the boy rather than complaining all the time. We do not want any negativity around the child. He is already traumatised. Please let him interact freely," the bench said. 

As the counsel for the father said that on the last meeting, the mother had put a mark on the child's leg, the bench said, "So what?" "She is the biological mother and he is her son. Mothers can't do any wrong. You all are missing the woods for trees. Don't articulate these inconsequential issues. It does not help," the bench said. It asked the boy's mother and sister to meet him in the high court creche during the day and said the parties shall remain present in the court on Tuesday. In an endeavour to reunite the child with his mother and sister, the court had earlier asked the family to spend some time together at the creche. The woman has come to India along with her daughter to meet the child.

The woman had earlier informed the court that she was divorced and though the minor's custody was granted to her by a court in Ukraine, her former husband took the boy away without informing her. The man and the child appeared in the court pursuant to earlier directions by which the bench had asked the Delhi Police to trace them.

The woman, in her plea, moved through advocate Sravan Kumar, has alleged her son was abducted by her former husband on March 23, when he had taken the child for a walk and did not return. Following the dissolution of their marriage last year, the man was granted the right to visit their son. Besides seeking the production of the child, the woman has also sought direction from the CBI or the Delhi Police to lodge a case of kidnapping, illegal travel of a minor without valid documents, creation of a fabricated Indian passport in Ukraine and causing pain to the petitioner and her daughter.