The Karnataka high court has allowed a 34-year-old woman to take her child to Australia and settle down there without the consent of her ex-husband, reported news agency PTI. The order came after the biological father failed to attend the court proceedings
According to the report, the petitioner, who is residing in Australia, moved to high court against her first husband CC Shashikumar, a farmer from Kunigal in Karnataka. The couple was married in 2006 and after the birth of the daughter their relationship did not work and led to the divorce. The couple then filed a compromise divorce petition with certain conditions.
One of the conditions of the petition was that the former husband would have visitation rights to their only child. The woman, however, filed an application before the family court in 2022 for relaxation of this clause as her former husband had not even once visited the child in the last 8 years. As the father of the child did not respond to the court's summons, the court cancelled the visitation rights. The mother and child were living in Australia on tourist visa, which is set to expire. Hence, she sought to secure a permanent visa to settle down permanently in Australia. Justice M Nagaprasanna allowed the plea of the mother under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890