The Delhi high court gave a week's time to Bollywood actress Karisma Kapoor on Friday to file her reply to the petition by her estranged husband Sunjay Kapur seeking to restrain her from going abroad with their four-month-old daughter Samaira.
The court sought the reply from the actress by August 19 on the allegation by her husband that the passport of their minor child was made by flouting all laws and without his consent and adjourned the hearing of the petition filed by Sunjay till August 26.
Sunjay was present in the court while Karisma was represented by her advocate Raian Karanjawala. Noted Supreme Court advocate Ashok Desai appeared for Sunjay Kapur.
The court appealed to both the parties to try reconciling with each other within the interim period. It, however, made it clear that the interim stay on Karisma would continue and she would not be able to take her 4-month-old baby girl Samaira out of India till the matter was settled.
The court also disallowed a petition filed by a non-governmental organisation, who had claimed that they can bring about reconciliation between Karisma and Sunjay.
The government of India (passport office) was granted more time so that it could file a comprehensive reply before next friday. On behalf of the passport office, it was clarified that either of the two parents can apply for the child's passport without the express consent of the other parent.
Desai argued that if this was true, then the government of India had been misleading the people of the country as no such detail had been printed on the passport form.
"My client has no problem in getting the passport issued, but it was the manner in which it was done behind his back by the mother of his child, and he had no knowledge about it," Desai said.
The court then asked both the parties to appear on August 26, when the matter would be heard next.