In a significant ruling on cross-border child custody, the Andhra Pradesh High Court held the mother in contempt for wilfully failing to produce the child in an ongoing US–India dispute. The judgment clarifies the enforceability of domestic court orders despite foreign jurisdiction claims, applies the principles of wilful disobedience, and sets an important precedent for international custody enforcement in India.

In a petition challenging the Family Court’s decision, which found that the mother was suffering from psychiatric disorders and granted permanent child custody to the father, the Division Bench of Justices Devan Ramachandran and M.B. Snehalatha, JJ. while setting aside the impugned orders, observed that postpartum depression, while common in some women, is typically temporary and does not persist indefinitely. The Bench emphasized that alleging that the mother was still suffe

In the present case dealing with forcible removal of minor child by parent to new place, an appeal was filed by the wife challenging the order dated 15-4-2024, whereby the guardianship petition filed by the wife under Sections 7, 8, 9 and 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 (‘G&W Act’) was rejected. Further, the petition was also filed by the husband praying for a writ of Habeas Corpus, directing the production of the male minor child of the parties, and further seeking p

Minor daughter’s custody granted to mother in an application filed by the applicant-wife against the rejection of her appeal filed against the Trial Court’s orders granting the wife only visitation rights for her minor daughter (‘the child’), the Single Judge Bench of Vinod Diwakar, J., allowed the application, granting the custody of the child to the wife. The Court held that the husband first orchestrated a fabricated story to remove the child from wife’s care and then made

Telangana HC directs mother to return 3 minor children to custody holder In a contempt petition filed against the mother of three minor children who, in contempt of the order dated 4-3-2025, had flown off with her children from Hyderabad to Bhopal, the Division Bench of Moushumi Bhattacharya and BR Madhusudhan Rao, JJ, reiterated that the contemptuous conduct must be reversed or undone before contempt may be contested. The Court further held that alleged contemnor must first

5-year old’s custody to grandmother, denied In a habeas corpus petition filed to seek the custody of child from her paternal grandmother, by the petitioner-biological father of the child, the Division Bench of Ravindra V. Ghuge and Gautam A. Ankhad*, JJ., opined that welfare of the child is of paramount importance in the custody dispute therefore, emotional bond with the child does not confer upon her a superior right to custody over that of the biological parent. Thus, the C