Hi,
I am a single divorced mother of a 15 year old male child. I have contested for divorce in 2021 on grounds of cruelty and was granted the divorce in 2024. We were seperated in 2019 and from then onwards my child is staying with me and I am taking care of him. His father never claimed the custody of child, he did not ask for visitation rights too.
In my divorce petition I asked for divorce and the judge passed the decree, custody of child was not mentioned in my divorce order.
Child custody was not invoked in the divorce petition and it was not disputed by the other party in the court.
Now, I applied for a re-issue of passport to my child, since his old passport has expired. I have submitted the necessary annexures (C and D) along with the divorce order.
But the passport officer asked for the documentary evidence that the child is under my custody which I do not have. So my file was escalated to the RPO from a PSK.
My question is how can I apply for the child custody when his father is not asking for it?? He never asked for the custody or visiting rights and had never come n met the child in the past 6 years..Now I do not even know about his whereabouts.
Even if I file a custodial case now, it would easily take another 2-3 years, with all the court proceedings. My ex-husband tried to extort money from me during the divorce proceedings. I did not give him though. Just before the divorce decree was passed, he filed a property suite against me which is currently in court proceedings (he is not attending the court, instead his lawyers are asking for time, judge has given a final date in June, after which the case will be dismissed if they do not submit further evidences). So if I file a case for custody, he will definitely blackmail me and ask money. If I do not agree to give him money, I will have to fight the custody case in the court which will take a long time..by that time my son will be a major.
How can I proceed at the RPO? Is there any way for my son's passport clearance? Please advise. Thank you
