HC grants interim relief to man in live-in relation

The man’s partner,who hails from Rajasthan and who has two more children from two different relationships,also filed a habeas corpus petition seeking their daughter’s production.

The couple met in 2007 in Abu Dhabi,where they were employed in a restaurant. They fell in love and came to Mumbai in 2009 while the woman was expecting.

The 36-year-old man,however,claimed his partner (28) returned to the Gulf when the child was eight months old to honour her January to October 2011 employment contract.

The woman said she kept the child with her parents at Mankhurd before leaving for Dubai. She said the man told her parents he was taking the child home but took the child to Kerala. The woman claimed he also took her gold jewellery and disappeared,forcing her to lodge a police complaint on returning from Dubai.

The man countered that he had repeatedly asked his partner to return to Mumbai and told her he would take the child to Kerala otherwise.

Justices A M Khanwilkar and R Y Ganoo heard the live-in partners on Monday and asked them if they were willing to get married and settle the case. The woman,however,refused a settlement and insisted on the child’s custody.

The court directed the man to file an affidavit in reply to his partner’s petition by September 6.