Karnataka High Court Allows Divorced Woman to Settle in Australia with Child

Karnataka (India), January 30, 2023: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday granted permission to a divorced woman to settle in Australia with her child after the father of the child failed to turn up for eight years to see his own child.

A bench headed by Justice M. Nagaprasanna accepted the petition of the mother, who had moved to Australia with her second husband and sought the court’s approval to settle permanently in the country with her child.

The petitioner claimed that after their divorce, she had settled down in Australia with her new husband and wanted her child to join her. The father of the child was absent during the court proceedings and had not visited his son in eight years.

The court observed that the father had failed to show any interest in the well-being of the child, and hence allowed the mother to settle in Australia with her child.

The couple had married in 2006 and had a son. The court had initially granted custody of the minor child to the mother and also allowed the father to meet his son once a month, but he failed to do so.

The mother had then moved to Australia with her son and applied for a visa for the child to stay in the country, which was denied by the local civil court in Maddur. The High Court, however, overturned the decision, granting permission to the mother to settle in Australia with her son.