NRI couple in international custody battle

ORLANDO (FLORIDA), MAY 15: The children of two doctors are caught in the middle of a custody battle that has developed into an internation...

ORLANDO (FLORIDA), MAY 15: The children of two doctors are caught in the middle of a custody battle that has developed into an international jurisdictional tug of war between courts in India and the United States.The story began 13 years ago, when Anil and Lata Bansal married in India. Later that year, they moved to the United States, where they had a second marriage ceremony and two children, Neal and Apaar, now 12 and 7, respectfully.

After more than 10 years of marriage, the couple briefly sought a divorce, then appeared to have resolved their differences, according to court documents. In December 1998, the pair went to India for what Lata says she thought was part of a reconciliation vacation.

But once there, Anil decided to stay to open a heart centre. His wife opposed the idea, and filed for divorce in a New Delhi court. Anil, who is a US citizen, said a Hindu marriage could be dissolved only in New Delhi. Lata Left India, but could not regain her children’s passports, and had to leave them behind.

Story continues below this ad

Upon returning to Florida, she filed for divorce in Orange County, where circuit judge George Sprinkel decided the case should be heard in Orlando because the couple and the children were US residents. The judge also froze the couple’s assets worth 18 million dollars.

A court in New Delhi had ruled that Anil Bansal was the first to serve her with divorce papers, so the Indian court should hear the case. The judge also ruled that the children should stay in school in New Delhi.

At the same time, in Orlando, Judge Sprinkel fined Anil 100,000 dollars for each day he did not return the children to Florida a figure which has now reached nearly 40 million dollars.

Anil is currently in jail, because when he returned to the US for a medical meeting in New York, police nabbed him on contempt of court charges and threw him in Nassau County jail on Long Island.

Story continues below this ad

Next month in Orlando, circuit judge Alice Blackwell White is set to hear Anil’s plea for release, with his lawyers contending he has been denied due process and that his imprisonment has lost any coercive effect.

The children, meanwhile, are in the custody of Anil’s father and brother in New Delhi. And there appears to be little Lata can do to regain herchildren. If she were to return to India, a judge there could jail her for contempt of court.

The State Department likely would not get involved, and there are no international laws that mediate disputes between judges in domestic cases, according to Miami lawyer Edward Martin Joffe.