Mumbai: The mother of a four-month-old child cannot be permitted to be arrested for whatever purposes as the baby needs her love and care, the sessions court observed in a detailed order granting protection from arrest to the 20-year-old wife of 'Khuda Haafiz' director Farukh Kabir. He accused Shokhsanam Khanna, an Uzbekistani national, of taking their daughter out of India without his consent using forged documents. Shokhsanam and her stepfather Tejas Khanna were booked by the Azad Maidan police on January 5 when the Foreign Regional Registration Office (FRRO) found that the documents submitted to get exit visa for her newborn were forged.
Additional Sessions Judge S D Tawshikar observed, It appears that de facto complainant (Kabir) is also alleging theft against the present applicant (Shokhsanam). Thus, discord between parties is explicit, though strongly denied and disputed by the advocate for the intervenor (Kabir). The dispute is having a basis of matrimonial discord. Baby needs the love and care of the mother more than the father. The court does not find it necessary to have custodial interrogation of Shokhsanam, the judge said.
The court noted that the baby is an Indian citizen as she was born in Mumbai on November 29, 2023. It appears that after the birth of the baby a dispute between wife and husband arose. The dispute turned so bitter that the intervenor went to the extent of filing a habeas corpus petition against the present applicants. On the direction of the Bombay high court, the baby was produced before the court. It allowed the child to be kept with the mother while giving visiting rights to the father.
Reasoning why it refused to grant any protection to Tejas, an Indian national, the court said, No doubt, the offence of fabrication is a serious offence. A minor girl is tried to be taken away out of India on the basis of fraudulent documents. Hence, fair chance of investigation shall be given to the investigating machinery, it added.
On December 14, 2023, Shokhsanam moved an application for an exit visa for her daughter. The application did not have the birth certificate of the child and the fathers consent form attached with it. Later, the duo submitted these documents online. Subsequently, Kabir claimed that the signature on the consent form was not his.
