It’s been over six months since 36-year-old Gurvinder Kaur saw her three-year-old son Tazveer Singh, who like her, is an Australian citizen.
“As soon as we landed in India in July last year, he took away the child and didn’t let him be with me. I begged him not to do this,” Ms Kaur told SBS Punjabi.
She claims her parents paid a “substantial” dowry to her husband at the time of their marriage and now wants a divorce. She alleges that he is asking her parents to transfer land ownership in his name in exchange for sending her son back to Australia, a claim that Kulvinder Singh disputes.
Ms Kaur told SBS Punjabi, “He said ‘if you want him back, sign divorce papers in India’.”
She also says she feels unsafe going back to India. “I said I can sign papers here in Australia. Why is he calling me to India to sign divorce papers?” she asks.
Ms Kaur returned to Australia in October last year, without her son. She initially sought help from Women’s Legal Service but was told that since India wasn’t a signatory to the Hague Convention, they couldn’t do anything to bring her son back.
This is why Ms Kaur is hoping that the Australian government will help her in repatriating her son.
She is now being supported by Brisbane social worker Jatinder Kaur and has moved out of a shared rental property jointly leased by Ms Kaur and her husband.
Gurvinder Kaur with her son Source: Supplied
She also alleges that Mr Singh exercised financial control over her, keeping all her wages and even taking out loans in her name without her knowledge.
“I became aware of the debts only after I came back to Australia and debt collectors are now asking for $53,000 which was in both our names. He controlled the bank accounts and I didn’t even know he took these loans,” she said.
However, Mr Singh denies all the allegations made against him.
He told SBS Punjabi that the couple along with their son travelled to India in July last year to execute the divorce.
“It’s her family that wanted me to do it [divorce] in India. The financial settlement had been agreed upon, I agreed to pay Rs. 1,500,000, ($30,000 AUD)” Mr Singh said.
But he said Ms Kaur refused to sign the divorce papers. “She insisted that we should try to save our marriage. But I cannot continue this relationship.”
He said while Ms Kaur was in India, they lived in separate houses and had mutually agreed on an arrangement, so that their son lived with each of them alternately.
“I know both of us have equal rights over him. So, we decided he will live with me for five days and then with his mother for five days. I used to myself drop him at her house every time.”
“When our son stayed with me, she (Gurvinder) would keep his passport and when he went to stay with her, I would keep my son’s passport,” Mr Singh told SBS Punjabi.
“Until late last year, she used to call on my mobile and talk to my son for hours and I never objected to it. Even now, I don’t have a problem with it, but she has stopped calling.”
Mr Singh says he had to stay back in India because of his mother’s heart ailment.
“I can’t leave my mother alone in this condition. There’s no one to take care of her. She (Gurvinder) says why I haven’t brought our son back to Australia, but it’s because I can’t travel at the moment.”
“If it was a case of child abduction, why didn’t she complain to the police in India while she was here?”
He also denied taking out any loan in Ms Kaur’s name.
However, Ms Kaur says she is being chased by debt recovery agents, asking her to pay back tens of thousands of dollars that she claims she was unaware of having been borrowed in her name.
“I’m surviving on the assistance I get. How can I pay back this money?” she wonders.
She says she wants to return to work but can’t due to the stress of being away from her son.
“I went back to my previous employer but they noticed how stressed out I was and thought I won’t be able to focus on work… it’s terrible what I am going through.”
“I just want my son back,” she told SBS Punjabi.
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