Russian woman found in a cave in the jungles of Karnataka, what was the court’s decision on deporting her?
By Princy Kashyap
Gokarna of Karnataka and the forest paths of the hills there, through these routes the Karnataka police reached a cave. In the cave they found a woman from Russia named Nina Kutina, who was living there with her two daughters. Nina’s visa had expired in 2017 and she was living there without informing anybody. When the matter came to light, the legal process of sending Nina back, i.e. her deportation, was started but now the Karnataka High Court has put a stay on the deportation of Nina Kutina, the reason for which is her daughters who were born in India. The court said that this decision is being taken keeping in mind the rights of children.
How this Russian woman reached the cave and what is the full decision of the court, now they know.
On 9th July, when Karnataka police went to Pahadiya, they saw a cave and in that cave Nina Kutina was seen with her two daughters. Apart from this, there were clothes made of curtains, books, pictures of God and a small gas stove. On being asked by the police, Nina Kutina told that she was living there for about 2 months. She had to leave the cave due to rain but she returned after a few days. Actually Nina had come to India on a business visa in 2016, her visa expired in 2017 but she stayed in India and then after 2020, she started living between Goa and Karnataka. She has 4 children, 2 elder sons, one of whom died in a bike accident in Goa in October 2024.
Nina claims that her younger daughter was born in India so she can become an Indian citizen, whereas her elder daughter was born in Ukraine when Nina had left Russia. A new twist in this matter came when the biological father of these children came forward. His name is Dror Goldstein and he is an Israeli citizen. He claims that he met Nina in Goa in the year 2016. He also claimed that he is the biological father of these children and that he also took responsibility for the children’s vaccination, education and health. He also told that Nina had separated him from the children and without informing anyone she had taken them away and disappeared somewhere. Now he has filed a petition for the custody of the children in Bangalore court, this petition was filed in the second week of July.
On the same 9th July, police took all three out of the cave and after getting their medical checkup done, shifted them to a government women’s shelter home after which the Indian government started the process of deportation of all nine, because their visa had expired many years ago and now they are living illegally in India. The passport and visa copy found with them confirms that their living in India is illegal but now the Karnataka High Court has put a stay on it. In the court, Veena Pillai, while referring to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children, said that the welfare of children is most important because according to Nina’s claim if her child was born in India then her citizenship can be of India, if Nina has to go to Russia then she will be separated from her child. After this, judge S. Sunil Dutt Yadav accepted that separating the children from their mother or sending them to Russia could be harmful for them. The court said that the future of the children should be decided first and other matters later. Now the next hearing in this matter will be on 18th August.