Aastha Thakur
Published on: 29 September 2022 at 16:43 IST
The Bombay High Court’s Nagpur Bench has stated that divorcing Indian spouses living overseas should act maturely and make sure that their children are not involved in any legal actions they take against one another.
The act of entering into a settlement agreement or starting legal procedures must be conducted in a way that protects the young kid or children from the marriage from its negative effects, according to a division bench of Justices Manish Pitale and Valmiki SA Menezes. The Bench observed that:
“In such cases, where both the parents are highly educated, financially independent and undoubtedly intellectually well developed, such maturity is expected, but unfortunately found wanting.”
“A situation ought not to be created where the parent, who happens to have the physical custody of the minor child, uses the custody of such child as a tool to inflict suffering on the other parent, by depriving the other parent of contact with the minor child,”
The petitioner, as a father, filed a habeas corpus under Article 226 seeking custody of his minor son, who is brought to India by his estranged wife in February 2021. He submits in his plea that his wife brought his son from Arizona, United States of America, to India without his consent. He even submitted the Arizona court’s order regarding shared custody of the minor child.
The Court found that both husband and wife are financially doing well, have been married since 2014, and even bought a house in Phoenix, Arizona together. The wife was also independent and earned a handsome salary too.
The judges were of opinion that, “The couples in such cases are usually well educated and financially sound, as both are working individuals and there is no dearth of resources. Perhaps, it is the problem of plenty, which is leading to such frequent instances of one parent knocking the door of the Court, invoking the writ of habeas corpus to secure the custody of minor child or children, who are taken away by the other parent and brought to India.”
“There is no dearth of intelligence and resources in the parties, but, there is lack of wisdom and maturity, thereby frequently bringing such cases to the writ court for decision,”
The Court further stated that the minor kid should not end up being used as a pawn by one parent against the other as a result of the animosity, bitterness, and differences of opinion between the parents.
Hence, the bench ordered the wife to follow the orders passed by the Court of Arizona over the shared custody of the child.
It further elaborated on a situation where the mother of the child is not willing to go back to the USA. Then the husband got a permit for virtual access of the child to the mother every alternate day for a time limit of 40 minutes on video call.
Thereby, Court disposed the matter.