Rajasthan High Court Rules That Corpus Is Considered An Illegal Migrant In India: Father’s Habeas Corpus Petition For His US Citizen Son Is Approved.
Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat and Advocate Tarun Agarwal represented the Petitioner, while Senior Advocate V.R. Bajwa and Advocate Snehdeep Khyaliya represented the Respondents. The Petitioner requested a Writ of Habeas Corpus to gain custody of his son. He aimed to have the minor child released from the Respondents’ illegal custody and returned to the USA, his country of birth and citizenship. Additionally, he sought the return of all official documents for the child, including his original passport and visa. The Petitioner stated that his son was born in 2018 in the USA and held U.S. citizenship with a passport issued by the authorities. When the child was less than three months old, he traveled to India with his mother, who had a return ticket.
However, instead of going back to the U.S. with her son, the mother filed a Petition in the Family Court under Sections 7, 10, and 11 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act. The Petitioner then filed a Petition in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court of Fairfax County, Virginia, seeking custody of his son after the mother did not return to the U.S. The U.S. Court granted the custody application, issuing a final order in favor of the Petitioner. Following this, the Petitioner filed a habeas corpus petition in the Apex Court, which was dismissed, leading him to file a Petition in the High Court.
The High Court, considering the details of the case, stated, “The cases mentioned by the respondents’ lawyer differ in their facts. The case of Rohan Rajesh Kothari Vs. State does not apply here because the child does not usually live in Jaipur, and the courts in Jaipur/India cannot handle his custody request. In this situation, Rudra is a U.S. citizen, and there is a final custody order from a U.S. Court that was made before the Family Court in Jaipur issued its order.”
The Court observed that if custody is given to the Petitioner’s parents, they would take the child to the U.S. within four weeks of receiving custody. Therefore, the High Court approved the Habeas Corpus Petition and granted custody of the child to the Petitioner.
Cause Title: ABC v. State of Rajasthan & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2024:RJ-JP:47816-DB)
Appearance:
Petitioner: Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat, Advocates Tarun Agarwal, Bhaskar Agrawal, and Mitali Karwa.
Respondents: Senior Advocate V.R. Bajwa, Advocates Snehdeep Khyaliya, Sonal Singh, GA-cum-AAG Rajesh Choudhary, and AAAG Aman Kumar.
