Marilyn Stowe Blog

News: Jeddah father granted video access to his child in Bombay

A divorced father based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has been granted access to a twice-monthly video conversation with his child living in Mumbai,India.

The Bombay High Court ordered the former partner of Gary Sewell to bring the child to district court in Pune on the first and third Saturdays of every month for the one hour video chat. The mother was told to encourage the child to have “cordial and congenial conversations” with the father during the calls.

The ruling stipulates: “The mother shall leave the room, where the video conference is arranged, so that the child can talk with the father alone. If this cannot be smoothly worked out, the conversation shall be supervised by a Court Officer, who shall be with the child during the period.

Later the father will be able to extend contact to phone calls or electronic communication such as email and instant messaging.

Justice Dalvi said: “The father is certainly entitled to have access to his child, if not physically, at least electronically, since he is residing in Jeddah and the child in Mumbai”.

The ruling sets aside an earlier judgement at the Pune Family Court, which rejected Mr Sewell’s pleas for contact with his child.

The unidentified child has been living with the mother since the parents split in 2008. Mr Sewell says he has not spoken to his child to date but had been paying child maintenance.

The judge also ordered the mother to provide the father with copies of the child’s school report and certificates.

The court rejected a request by the father that his mother – the child’s grandmother – and his attorney also be allowed to speak to the child.

Photo of the Bombay High Court by Michael Siegel via Wikipedia under a Creative Commons licence