Dutch courts unable to bring kidnapped girl back from India

Dutch courts do not have the necessary authority to bring kidnapped girl Insiya Hemani back from India, where she currently is with her father, the court in The Hague ruled on Friday, NOS reports.

The court checked whether India signed the Hague Child Abduction Convention of 1980, in which countries promised to return abducted children to the country where they live. India did not sign this treaty, and is therefore not bound by it. The court then investigated whether the request that Insiya be returned to her mother should be handled by an Dutch or Indian court. As there are already ongoing procedures in this case in India, an Indian court will have to handle this request too, the court ruled.

Now 3-year-old Insiya was kidnapped from her grandmother's Amsterdam apartment in September 2016. The kidnapping was arranged by her father, Shehzhad Hemani, who took the girl to India.

Last month Insiya's mother, Nadia Rashid, reported that a court in India ordered Hemani to return Insiya to her within two months. Hemani denies this.