CBI retrieves child from Dubai after father flouts SC order

Delhi HC had denied him custody of daughter

February 28, 2020 02:17 am | Updated 02:17 am IST - NEW DELHI

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday brought back a three-year-old girl, who was taken to Dubai by her father in alleged violation of court directives.

Following a Supreme Court directive, a CBI team visited Dubai to bring back the girl along with her father, Aman Lohia.

It is alleged that Lohia took his daughter abroad about six months ago. The Delhi High Court had given the child’s custody to her mother, Kiran Kaur Lohia, with a condition that he could meet his daughter for a few hours on three days of every week. As directed by the court, he had deposited his passport.

However, when the child came to meet Lohia on August 24 last year, he took her to Dubai via Nepal, using a passport allegedly arranged from the Commonwealth of Dominica, an island country in the Caribbean. A maid and a family friend accompanied them. Personal laws in Dubai enjoin exclusive custody upon the father.

The Delhi High Court directed the CBI to register a case. On the agency’s request, the Interpol issued a “Yellow Notice” to trace the girl.

Yellow Notices are issued by the Interpol on the request of member countries to locate missing persons, they said.

The CBI also filed a charge sheet on December 19 last year before a special court against Lohia, his mother Meena Lohia, alleged accomplice Pawan Kumar and maid Shiuratia Debi Mahto, officials said.

The girl will be produced before the Supreme Court on Friday, officials said, adding that the child is at her mother’s home under the agency’s care.

Lohia claimed he was a “victim of gender bias” of courts and that it was the “love for his daughter” which directed his actions.

(With PTI inputs)

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