Plea In Kerala High Court Seeks Formulation Of Welfare Measures For NRIs To Ensure Legal Representation In Foreign Courts

Justice Shoba Annamma Eapen issued a notice to the Union Government and State Government.

The petitioner is a 39-year-old woman who is working in Dubai. Both the petitioner and her husband are employed in Dubai. The petitioner and her husband got married in Kerala under the Christian Laws and have permanent residence in Pathanamthitta district in Kerala. They have two children who were also residing with them in Dubai, UAE. The children are Indian citizens

The petitioner's husband filed for divorce and custody of the children before the Dubai Court of First Instance. The Court in UAE granted divorce without giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner and gave joint custody to the parties without considering Indian laws of marriage or custody. She alleges that she was unaware of foreign legal proceedings and had no sufficient legal representation.

In her plea, she submitted that she has no means or knowledge to fight for the custody of her children in a foreign country. The petitioner submitted that she had no means of pro bono legal representation or legal aid services before the Courts in UAE.

The petitioner now apprehends that the Court in UAE would remove her from the status of wife and would give full custody of her children to her husband due to her lack of knowledge to fight for custody of children before a foreign court.

The petitioner has thus approached the Court to quash to order passed by the Court in UAE as null and void and also seeks to formulate welfare measures for representation of NRI's in foreign courts.

The matter has been posted to May 10.

The plea has been moved by Advocates Raghul Sudheesh, Elizabeth Mathew, J Lakshmi, Ambily T Venu, Zakiya Ismail

Case Title: Aarya Thomas v Union of India and Others

Case Number: WPC 16079/2024