A Family Court in Delhi recently ordered the estranged wife of Indian Cricketer Shikhar Dhawan, Aesha Mukherji to bring their 9-year-old son to India so that he can attend a family get-together. The Court gave this order post observing that a mother alone doesn’t have rights over a child.
After noting that Shikhar’s family has not met the child since August 2020, Judge Harish Kumar also pulled up Aesha for objections to bringing the child to India.
The couple has been living separately now and they have also filed legal cases in India as well as Australia (where Aesha Dhawan lives with the child) for divorce and custody of the child.
Initially, Shikhar’s family reunion was fixed on June 17. However, Aesha was not in favour to bring the child then and objecting it as he would miss school. Consequently, the event was rescheduled to July 1 as the child’s school would be shut during the period.
Again, Aesha objected to the re-planned function, arguing that it would turn flop as most of the extended family members were not consulted before rescheduling the event.
The judge also observed, “Even if petitioner presumably did not consult the other members of his extended family, what would be the consequence thereof- at best such get together would be a flop one as many of his members of the family might not make it to the party but petitioner and his family will have the joy of having the company of their eye’s apple. Admittedly, the child of the petitioner has not visited India since August 2020 and the parents of the petitioner and other family members have not got a chance to meet the child and the petitioner’s desire to have his child meet with grandparents cannot be said to be unreasonable.“
The judge also noted that Aesha had then raised concerns that the child would not be comfortable to meet Dhawan etc. and such grounds were not cited in the proceedings for the child’s permanent custody. It also noted that both parties were blaming each other for the litigation.
In the present application, the Court pointed out that Dhawan is not fighting over permanent custody of the child, but rather simply wants that his child can stay in India for a few days at his estranged wife’s expense. The Court then added, “Her objection on expense might be justified and consequent objection might be alright but her unwillingness may not be justified. She has not been able to put forth what her fear is about the petitioner qua the child and why she approached the court in Australia to put him in watch list. If petitioner had intended to take law in his hand for taking the custody of the child he would not have approached the court in India. Once her fear is not clear her objection to allow the petitioner to meet his child cannot be appreciated.“
Giving reference of a separate order passed on May 29, the judge pulled up Aesha for putting a question mark on the jurisdiction of the Indian court for dealing with the issue of bringing the child to India for attending the family function.
On one hand, Aesha claims to understand the important role of Shikhar Dhawan in the child’s life, while on the other hand, she is also objecting to bring the child to India and letting him meet his father and grandparents.
In the same order, the judge also observed, “If father has an important role in the life of the child it is equally important for her to provide him with opportunity so as to allow him to inculcate in the child the values he considers important. The respondent (Aesha) being originally Indian should definitely understand the role of other family members in the life of the child as well,“
Senior advocate Siddharth Agarwal appeared for Aesha Mukherji whereas Advocate Aman Hingorani represented Shikhar Dhawan.
Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/delhi-court-directs-estranged-wife-shikhar-dhawan-bring-son-india-cricketer-family-function