Constitution of India – Art. 32 – Habeas Corpus Petition – For custody of minor children – Maintainability – Petitioner had married respondent no.6 and they have two minor children – Disputes between petitioner and respondent no.6 – Habeas Corpus Petition filed u/Art.32 by petitioner, a citizen of Spain, for custody of the two minor children who were living with respondent no.6 in India – Preliminary objection raised by respondent no.6 with regard to maintainability of the Habeas Corpus petition, particularly when a petition filed by the petitioner under the Guardians and Wards Act for custody of the children was pending before the trial court – Held: In the present case, the admitted facts being that respondent no.6 (mother) had the custody of the two minor children, for which the petitioner (father) had already filed a petition u/s.12 of the Guardians and Wards Act, which is pending consideration; and the custody of the children with the mother, who is a natural guardian, cannot be said to be illegal and, thus, the petition for habeas corpus would not be maintainable and that too directly u/Art.32 of the Constitution – The statutory remedy available under the Guardians and Wards Act is the appropriate remedy, which has already been availed by the petitioner – There are no extra ordinary or exceptional circumstances in the present case requiring the Supreme Court to exercise its jurisdiction u/Art. 32 of the Constitution – The remedy already availed by the petitioner is an appropriate and effective remedy, where all the questions raised herein regarding the welfare and well-being of the children can be considered in accordance with law – Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 – s.12 – Family Law – Child custody.
Yashita Sahu v. State of Rajasthan, (2020) 3 SCC 67 : [2020] 1 SCR 417 – distinguished.
Tejaswini Gaud v. Shekhar Jagdish Prasad Tewari (2019) 7 SCC 42 : [2019] 7 SCR 335 and Soumitra Kumar Nahar v. Parul Nahar (2020) 7 SCC 599 –
referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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