Mumbai: The Bombay High Court recently directed the repatriation of a seven-year-old girl to the United States to the custody of her father, holding that the child's mother had abducted her and relocated her to India despite an order from a court in the US granting permanent custody to the father.
The bench said in its order of May 7 that the mother had acted in her own vested interests and not once thought about the child's interest.
The couple got married in 2015 and moved to the US. In 2016, their daughter was born. However, in 2023, the couple separated and filed suits against each other before a court there seeking the girl’s child.
The US court first ordered that the child could live with both parents before granting the man permanent custody of his daughter.
However, in December 2023, the woman returned to India with the child and lodged criminal complaints of domestic violence against her estranged husband.
The man then filed a petition in HC against his wife, seeking repatriation of his daughter to the US.
The woman opposed the man's plea and said he had not treated the child well in the US and that during the joint custody period, the girl suffered from mental health issues.
The woman said she had enrolled the child in a school in Pune and that she is now settled in India.
The bench, however, noted that the woman after returning to India first met with lawyers and filed complaints against her husband instead of addressing her child's interests.
“This conduct of the wife distinctly indicates that she avoided to give priority to the child's health and instead, thought it appropriate to first file cases against the husband. This amounts to serve one's own interest,' HC said.
The bench added that the wife deliberately filed multiple cases just to involve the husband in the “multifarious and complex legal battle” in India.
“The unilateral decision that the wife took to return to India along with the child was with intent to serve her own interest i.e. to keep the child's exclusive custody with her, not in the best interest of the child which was of utmost importance,' HC said.
“The story weaved and the scheme designed by the wife to return to India by abducting the child, unmindful of the ill-consequences of the said act, is not acceptable. The said action of the wife was intended to serve her own interest, not the child's,” it said.
The bench said the child shall be sent back to the US, where she was born and is a citizen of that country. The court said it could not compel the mother to return to the US but was recommending that she accompany the child.
The court directed that if the wife returns to the US with the daughter, she must comply with the court orders, and the husband will her cover travel and stay expenses.
The court clarified that these arrangements will remain until June 30, 2024, or until the US court, which has jurisdiction, issues further directions.
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