The Supreme Court on Monday came down sharply on an Israeli businessman residing in Goa who sought to stop the repatriation of two minor girls and their Russian mother, rescued from a forest in Karnataka in July. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi questioned his legal status in the country and the basis of his claim over the children, remarking that India had become a “safe haven” for anyone to come and stay.

Dror Shlomo Goldstein, who claims to be the father of the two girls aged six and five, had moved the Supreme Court challenging a Karnataka High Court order that allowed the Union government to issue travel documents for the family’s repatriation to Russia.

The bench repeatedly pressed Goldstein’s counsel to establish his legal right over the children and his status i

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