Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday told actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui and his estranged wife to settle the issue of giving him access to their two minor children. “Put an end. We don’t see any other point,” said Justices Ajay Gadkari and Prakash Naik. They were hearing a habeas corpus petition by Nawazuddin to know the whereabouts of his daughter (12) and son (7) who are in the custody of their mother Zainab.

Advocate Pradeep Thorat, for Nawazuddin, said the school wrote that the children are missing class and will be rusticated. He said last year Zainab travelled to India without the children, and added, “some third person has taken my children out of Dubai.” Thorat said the couple separated in 2011 and there is a khulanama.

Zainab’s advocate Rizwan Siddiquee said the children are with their mother. “The daughter will not leave her mother and go to any other country,” he added. He said the children’s education will be online or in India and “they don’t want to continue in Dubai.”

To the judges’ query on what happens to their studies if they leave school in between, Siddiquee replied, “If the school is not allowing online (class), they will change the school.”

When Siddiquee said Zainab is disputing the khulanama, the judges pointed out that the scope of the petition is limited. “He (Nawazuddin) is only concerned about the schooling of his children,” said Justice Gadkari. Thorat urged that Nawazuddin be allowed to communicate with his children. Siddiquee said the daughter talks with her father but the son had “very limited contact” with him.

Adjourning the hearing to March 3, the judges suggested the warring couple settle visitation rights for Nawazuddin and asked their advocates to talk and draw up minutes.