A man who claims to be the father of two children found living with their Russian mother in a cave in India has withdrawn his appeal after they left the country.
Russian national Nina Kutina, 40, was discovered living in a cave in Karnataka in southern India with her two children, aged six and four, during a routine police patrol in July. The case made international headlines, with police describing their shock at seeing a “little blonde girl” run out of the cave in an isolated part of the Gokarna forest.
The family had no valid visas or right to live in India, and the Karnataka high court last week ordered they be given documentation to return to Russia. They left the country on 28 September, an Indian official told BBC News.
The man claiming to be the children’s father, Israeli national Dror Shlomo Goldstein, has previously given media interviews saying he was “providing for their well-being for a long time” and that Ms Kutina left their home in the neighbouring state of Goa without informing him.
He tried to fight their deportation from India, arguing it was not in the children’s interests, but the court ruled against him saying it was Ms Kutina’s desire to return to Russia.
Hearing his appeal on Monday, judges at the Karnataka high court noted that he lacked the documentation to prove he was indeed the children’s father, and questioned his own legal status in India.
“What is your right [to bring this petition]?” asked Justice Surya Kant. “Who are you?” he asked, adding that he should “show us any official document that you are declared the father”.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi also criticised the petitioner, suggesting he was bringing the appeal for “publicity”. “What were you doing when your children were living in a cave?” he asked, followed by: “What were you doing staying in Goa?"
The court then allowed Mr Goldstein to withdraw his petition.
Ms Kutina has defended her decision to live in the wild with her daughters and said they were healthy and happy in the forest. She was reluctant to leave the cave even after officers tried to warn her about the dangers of living in the wild, the police said.
“It is nothing but her love for adventure that brought her here,” police officer Sridhar SR told reporters. He added that Ms Kutina told the police she had worked as a tutor of Russian in Goa and spent time in the cave meditating by candlelight, feeding her children, painting, singing, and reading books.
“We were not dying, and I did not bring my children, my daughters, to die in jungle," Ms Kutina told ANI news agency. "They did not feel bad, they were very happy, they swam in waterfall, they lived, had very good place for sleeping, a lot of lessons with art making, we made from clay, we painted, we ate good, I was cooking with gas, very good and tasty food.”
Kutina says they were not living far from civilisation. She chose that location because it was close to a village where she bought supplies.
“It’s very big and beautiful cave, and not small, and it’s like it has window to look to ocean.”
Russian by birth, Ms Kutina has told Indian news agencies that she has not lived in Russia for 15 years. She has travelled extensively – Costa Rica, Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, Ukraine, Nepal – and says she gave birth to four children, including a son who died in a road accident in Goa last year. Her other son, aged 11, lives in Russia.
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