Custody row: Dad takes daughter to Nepal; Delhi HC asks CBI to step in

The Indian-origin man and his wife are estranged and a case related to the custody of the child is pending before the court.

On April 17, the mother of the child moved court with a habeas corpus petition saying that her child has been surreptitiously taken to Nepal in violation of the court order and using new passports issued by the US government. (File)

The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the CBI to take steps for issuing open-ended non-bailable warrants and a Red Corner Notice against a US citizen who last week took his eight-year-old child away to Nepal while she was temporarily in his custody on court orders.

The Indian-origin man and his wife are estranged and a case related to the custody of the child is pending before the court. The court by way of a consensual order on March 28 had made an arrangement related to overnight visitations of the child under which she was to remain with the father for a few days. It also had directed the father to deposit his and his parents’ passports with the Registrar General.

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While Delhi Police had then been directed to register an FIR in the matter, the division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar on Friday also asked the CBI to take necessary steps against the man in terms of the extradition treaty between India and Nepal so as to secure his presence before the court.

A division bench headed by Justice Mukta Gupta on April 18 had issued show-cause notice for contempt to the man and his mother “for interfering in the due process of law and misleading the court and for playing fraud by depositing duplicate/fake/second passports with the Registrar General of this court”.

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