NDLI: Yashita Sahu Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors.

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	Child Custody Child and Family Welfare
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1 Referred Case 2 Referred Case 3
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Disposed Off
Headnote	Child and Family Welfare – Child Custody – Parents in two different continents – In 2016, couple got married in India – Appellant-wife accompanied the husband, working in USA – A daughter was born in 2017 – Relationship of the couple got strained – Appellant inter alia sought sole custody of the minor child from the Norfolk Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court– Consent order passed inter alia making provision for shared parenting – Before the next date fixed in the Norfolk Court, the appellant along with the child came to India– Husband filed motion for emergency relief before the said Court – Ex-parte order inter alia granted him custody of the child – Husband also filed petition for issuance of writ of habeas corpus before the Rajasthan High Court – High Court inter alia directed the wife to return to USA along with minor daughter – On appeal, held: It is too late in the day to urge that writ of habeas corpus is not maintainable if the child is in the custody of another parent – Court can invoke its extraordinary writ jurisdiction for the best interest of the child – Contention of the appellant that the writ petition was not maintainable, rejected – Further, since the wife brought the minor child to India in violation of the orders of the jurisdictional court in USA, her custody of the child cannot be said to be strictly legal – However, the High Court could not have directed the appellant to go to USA – Custody of a child is a different issue, but even while deciding such issue, no direction can be issued in writ jurisdiction to the adult spouse to go and live with the other strained spouse – In matters of custody of a child, the welfare of the child will always remain the paramount consideration – In cases like the present one where the parents are in two different continents, effort should be made to give maximum visitation rights to the parent who is denied custody – Directions issued in two parts– First part will apply if the appellant is willing to go to USA on terms and conditions offered by the husband in his affidavit which is recorded as an undertaking to the Court and the husband is duty bound to abide by it– Second part to apply if she is not willing to go to USA, how should the husband be granted custody of the child – Further, in case if the visa/work permit of the husband is not extended and he has to leave USA then the appellant is at liberty to move Supreme Court for fresh directions – Constitution of India – Art.226 – Doctrine of comity of courts.Constitution of India – Art.226 – Writ of habeas corpus – Maintainability of, in matters of child custody – Discussed – Child and Family Welfare.Doctrines/Principles – Doctrine of comity of courts – Held: Doctrine of comity of courts is a very healthy doctrine – If courts in different jurisdictions do not respect the orders passed by each other, it will lead to contradictory orders being passed in different jurisdictions – No hard and fast guidelines can be laid down in this regard and each case has to be decided on its own facts– Child and Family Welfare– Child Custody.Child and Family Welfare – Child Custody – Visitation rights; Contact Rights – Duty of Courts – Held: It is to be ensured that the Court weighs each and every circumstance very carefully before deciding how and in what manner the custody of the child should be shared between both the parents – Even if the custody is given to one parent the other parent must have sufficient visitation rights to ensure that the child keeps in touch with the other parent and does not lose social, physical and psychological contact with any one of the two parents – Courts dealing with the custody matters must while deciding issues of custody clearly define the nature, manner and specifics of the visitation rights – In addition to ‘Visitation Rights’, ‘Contact rights’ are also important for development of the child specially in cases where both parents live in different states or countries – Concept of contact rights in the modern age would be contact by telephone, e-mail or in fact, the best system of contact, if available between the parties should be video calling.
Judge	Hon'ble Mr. Justice Deepak Gupta
Neutral Citation	2020 INSC 58
Petitioner	Yashita Sahu
Respondent	State Of Rajasthan & Ors.
SCR	[2020] 1 S.C.R. 417
Judgement Date	2020-01-20
Case Number	127

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