Panaji, September 1: Collin Fernandes, accused of kidnapping his three children from his divorced wife's house in Qatar, deposited passports of the children with the Registrar of the Bombay High Court, here on Friday, following the court's order.
Precyla Baretto had accused Mr. Fernandes of kidnapping and illegally bringing the children to Mapusa in Goa, after a Qatari court granted them divorce.
The Goa Division Bench comprising Justices A.P. Lavande and U.V. Bakre also gave Ms. Baretto temporary custody of the children for two days from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The High Court will on September 10 take up for the final hearing of the habeas corpus petition filed by Ms. Baretto seeking permanent custody of her three children.
Mr. Fernandes and Ms. Baretto married in Qatar, and after living separately for more than five years, a court there gave them divorce. The Qatari court, in its judgment, gave the custody of the children to the mother.
The three boys — aged 5, 8 and 9 — were “kidnapped” and brought to Goa by their father Mr. Fernandes in June. They were admitted at a primary school in Mapusa. The Goa Department of Education has ordered a probe against the school for admitting the children without an original leaving certificate from their school in Qatar.
After the abduction, the Indian Embassy in Qatar had written to the Chief Secretary of Goa giving details of the abduction of the three boys and seeking immediate action by the authorities in Goa to give back Ms. Barreto the custody of her three children. With the authorities having failed to act, she moved the Bombay High Court through a habeas corpus.
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