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Yashita Sahu v. State of Rajasthan and Others

Criminal Appeal · 2020 INSC 58Decided 20 Jan 2020
Criminal Appeal No. 127 of 2020
Justice Deepak Gupta · Justice Aniruddha Bose

Background

Yashita Sahu and her husband married in India and moved to the United States, where their daughter (a US citizen) was born. After their relationship broke down, the wife obtained a protection order and joint-custody arrangement from a US court, but then brought the child to India without returning as scheduled. The husband obtained an ex-parte order from the US court granting him sole custody and filed a habeas corpus petition before the Rajasthan High Court, which directed the wife to return to the US with the child; she appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court disposed of the appeal with a detailed, conditional set of directions rather than deciding custody on merits itself, since the child was a US citizen and the US court had ongoing jurisdiction. It recorded a detailed undertaking from the husband covering travel costs, housing, medical insurance, and child-support payments. If the wife chose to return to the US, the husband was to fund her and the child's travel and, if she did not wish to live with him, vacate the matrimonial apartment for her use. If she chose not to return, the child was to go to the US with the husband (or his parents), with guaranteed daily video calls with the mother and mandated visits to India twice a year. These arrangements were made interim, to operate only until the US court could issue its own directions by a set date.

Lesson Learnt

In cross-border custody disputes, Indian courts generally try to preserve both parents' meaningful access to the child through practical interim arrangements (travel support, video-calling, visitation) while deferring the final custody decision to the court of the country where the child is normally resident and holds citizenship.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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