Sahil Raju Gilani vs State of Maharashtra

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2025 Supreme(Bom) 914

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
SARANG V. KOTWAL, S.M. MODAK
Sahil Raju Gilani – Appellant
Versus
State of Maharashtra – Respondent

Advocates Appeared:
Mr. Aabad Ponda, Sr. Advocate a/w. Ms. Fazaa Shroff, Mr. D. V.
Deokar, Sachin Pandey and Mustafa Shroff i/b. Ms. Fazaa Shroff
for Petitioner.
Mr. J. P. Yagnik, APP for State/Respondent.
Mr. Harish Salve, Sr. Advocate (appeared through V.C.) a/w. Mrs.
Taubon Irani, Danish Aftab Chowdhary and Shreyas Chaturvedi for
the Respondent No.2.

ORDER :

Sarang V. Kotwal, J.

1. This is a petition filed by the father of a girl child ‘S’ for the writ of Habeas Corpus. By way of interim order, the Petitioner has sought directions restraining the Respondent No.2 who is the mother of the child and the Petitioner’s wife from taking away the minor girl outside the territory of India. Another prayer in the nature of interim relief is for the directions regarding access of the minor girl.

2. Heard Mr. Aabad Ponda, learned Senior Counsel for the Petitioner, Mr. Yagnik, learned APP for the State/Respondent No.1 and Mr. Harish Salve, learned Senior Counsel for the Respondent No.2.

3. The facts mentioned in the petition are that the Respondent No.2 was born in Pakistan. She became an Indian Citizen on 07.06.1995 and she was issued an Indian Passport on 28.08.1995. After that, she surrendered her Indian citizenship and became a U.S. National on 17.12.2007. The Respondent No.2 currently lives in India with an American Passport and travels with a PIO (Person of Indian Origin) Card which has expired on24.03.2023. It is mentioned in the petition that the Respondent No.2 had applied for an OCI card on 27.06.2017, but FRRO rejected that applicati