SHRIRAM SANKARAN Vs. THE INSPECTOR OF POLICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition is filed seeking a writ of habeas corpus directing the respondents to cause the production of the person of detenu, Baby Srishti, aged about 3 years before this Court and hand over the said detenu to the legal custody of the petitioner.

(2.) The facts of the case in brief are that the petitioner and respondent 5 got married on 18-1-2010 at Shivashakthi Convention Hall in Bengaluru, as per the Hindu rites and customs. In their wedlock, a female child, namely, Srishti is born on 19-11-2013 at Phoenix, AZ in U.S.A. The child is a citizen of U.S.A. by birth. On the ground that respondent 5 was treating the petitioner with cruelty, the petitioner filed the divorce petition against her in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona in the Country of Maricopa in Oct. 2014. Respondent 5 submitted herself to the jurisdiction of the said Court in the U.S.A. The Court of Maricopa passed the consensual order. It was held that the petitioner and respondent 5 be awarded joint legal decision making regarding the child.

(3.) The said U.S.A. Court ordered that if the petitioner or respondent 5 proposes to travel with the child outside U.S.A., the parent must provide the other parent with a written itinerary of their travel. It is now the grievance of the petitioner that the respondent 5 has detained the child beyond the vacation schedule, which ended on 18-10-2016 and that thereby she has been denying the access to the petitioner. Complaining the abduction of the child by the respondent 5, the petitioner has already filed an emergency petition for contempt, enforcement of custody order, warrant for immediate production and issuance of writ of habeas corpus in U.S.A. Court. Considering the conduct of the respondent 5, the Superior Court of Arizona vide its order dated 24-10-2016 granted the petitioner sole legal decision making authority in respect of the detenu.