MUMBAI: The Bombay high court recently directed
Interpol
to
locate
film producer
Mushtaq Nadiadwala
’s children who are both
Indian nationals
and verify their addresses given in the cause title as well as in the proceedings before the Lahore family court or any other place where they reside and also whether they children are safe.
The government of India through its High Commission, Islamabad, is actively following up the matter with the
Pakistan
ministry of foreign affairs and will continue to pursue the matter with the government of Pakistan, said the Centre, through its counsel
Ashish
Chavan, to the high court in a plea by Nadiadwala.
Nadiadwala had filed a petition last year and is seeking to know the whereabouts of his wife and two children in Pakistan. The producer’s senior counsel, Beni Chaterjee, said his wife has not complied with a June 2022 Lahore family court order directing her to arrange for communication of the minor children with their father through Skype or WhatsApp twice a month. Nadiadwala said he last spoke to his children six months ago.
The Interpol through counsel Kuldeep Patil said it had issued a yellow corner notice and submitted the address. Chaterjee though argued that she keeps changing her address which needs to be verified and a fresh report called for. Chaterjee also said his client apprehends that she may fear for her and children’s safety and had applied for Indian citizenship prior to her departure to Pakistan.
The HC division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Gauri Godse on December 20 directed “Interpol to file an affidavit” on the whereabouts and safety of the children by February 15, 2024, and posted the matter next to February 16, 2024. Chaterjee said Nadiadwala would in the meantime pursue his legal remedies before the Lahore family court over “non-compliance” of the June 2022 order.
