Sister met mom, HC told in Kanchanjunga kin visitation dispute

MUMBAI: After the Bombay high court came down heavily on Jaya Patel who hails from the family that built the iconic Kanchanjunga Apartments at Kemps Corner, it was told on Friday that her sister, Sudha Chowgule, met their mother in Ahmedabad.

Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Gauri Godse were informed by Sudha’s advocate Kunal Mehta that she met her mother, Indu Patel (93), on Thursday and would be meeting her again. When Jaya’s advocate, Jamsheed Master, said Sudha was given access to her mother, Justice Mohite-Dere remarked, “Under what circumstances.”

On Thursday, the judges issued suo motu contempt notice against Jaya for “wilful and deliberate breach” of the June 28 order by which Sudha, who had filed an habeas corpus petition, was allowed to meet her mother in the portico of Bella Vista bungalow on Pedder Road three times a week beginning June 30. The mother lives with Jaya.

On Wednesday, the judges were told that Jaya’s lawyer had sent an email at 10.44pm on June 29 informing that since she is travelling abroad from June 30, her mother has decided to stay with a relative in Ahmedabad till she returns. Senior advocate Navroz Seervai for Sudha said HC’s order “is taken for granted”. Master said the mother insisted on going to Ahmedabad and will return after 2 weeks. “The old lady has a mind of her own,” he added. The judges asked if Jaya wanted her mother at her age “to be moving from one place to another”.

The judges, in their order, recorded that prima facie “all attempts are being made to defy the June 28 order... we are also of the prima facie view that respondent (Jaya) has illegally detained Induben Patel and is not permitting the petitioner (Sudha) to meet Induben Patel.”

They modified the June 28 order and allowed Sudha and her family to meet her mother “every day” in Ahmedabad from Thursday. The judges will hear the matter next on July 12.