The Telangana High Court has directed a mother to return her four-year-old daughter to the United States, ruling that a competent US court's custody orders deserve deference over a parallel case filed in India.
A Division Bench of Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya and Justice Renuka Yara passed the order on 18 September 2026 in a habeas corpus petition filed by the child's father, who alleged that his daughter was being wrongfully held in Hyderabad in violation of orders passed by a court in Oregon, USA.
Background
The couple married in India in August 2018. Their daughter was born in the United States in September 2022. Cracks in the marriage led the father to file a legal separation petition before the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon, Washington County, in February 2025. That court passed a status-quo order restraining either parent from shifting the child's residence or leaving the state without permission.
In April 2025, the mother's plea to move the case to India was rejected, and both parties agreed to a Temporary Parenting Plan before the US court. Days later, the mother left the US for India with the child. The US court subsequently granted the father sole temporary custody and, in a detailed order passed in November 2025, finalised the divorce and directed that the child be returned to America. Meanwhile, the mother had filed a domestic violence complaint in Hyderabad and separately approached the Family Court here seeking divorce and permanent custody.
The Bench examined the doctrine of "Comity of Courts" at length, describing it as a principle of judicial restraint rather than a binding command. The court noted that the Oregon court's jurisdiction was never challenged and that it had passed four substantive orders after examining the facts.
The judges observed that once a foreign court "of competent jurisdiction has applied its judicial mind to the merits of the rival contentions," Indian courts should be slow to reopen the dispute simply because the child was unilaterally brought to India. The Bench relied on earlier Supreme Court rulings, including V. Ravi Chandran v. Union of India and Yashita Sahu v. State of Rajasthan, where similarly removed children were directed to be returned so that the courts already seized of the matter could decide custody.
The order also referred to what it called false statements made by the mother before the Indian court regarding the custody position abroad, and pointed out that she had not challenged any of the US court's orders on merits or jurisdiction.
In a notable observation on custody disputes generally, the Bench remarked that
"judicial sympathy mostly veers towards the mother in matters involving custody of children", adding that fathers are equally an inseparable part of a child's upbringing and that overlooking their role can result in injustice.
The High Court allowed the writ petition and issued a structured set of directions. The mother was directed to accompany the child back to the USA and comply with the American court's orders, with the father bearing all travel, accommodation and living expenses for both of them there, including arranging alternate accommodation for himself if she wished to stay at the matrimonial home. The father was also barred from initiating any penal proceedings against her in the US over the earlier violation.
As an alternative, if the mother chooses not to travel, she must hand over the child to the father or his family member for the journey to America, while retaining daily video-call access and extended weekend calls with the child.
These directions take effect from 1 October 2026, and the petition stood disposed of in these terms.
Case Details
- Case Title: X v. State of Telangana & Others
- Case Number: Writ Petition No. 29562 of 2025
- Judges: Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya and Justice Renuka Yara
- Decision Date: 18 September 2026
