MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court said that they cannot give the custody of the daughter to her father having anger issues. The court observed that the three-year-old girl cannot be released with her father showing violent and abusive conduct. The court said this while considering a custody plea filed by a youth of US citizen. The plea was considered by a bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Gauri Godse.

The complainant in his plea alleged that his estranged wife brought his daughter to India illegally. The couple got married in USA in 2018 and the baby was born in 2020. After a few months, the two started living separately. They reunited in 2022 and moved to Singapore. Following marital issues, the woman came to India with the child in November 2022 and did not bother to go back, the youth mentioned in his plea.

The youth then filed a plea in the Singapore court. The court ordered joint custody of the child, but she refused to return. He then approached the Bombay High Court to issue a directive to his estranged wife to comply with the order of the Singapore court seeking his child’s custody.

However, the Bombay High Court considered his wife’s words that the youth had anger issues and had physically abused her in the past. She convinced the court that she was forced to return to India for her and her child’s safety. The woman had filed police complaints against him in the US and also in Singapore for domestic violence.

The Bombay High Court in their order pointed that it is not safe to hand over the custody of the child to him after taking into account his past behavior. The direction to return the child to a foreign jurisdiction must not cause physical or psychological harm.

Allegations of petitioner's violent and abusive behavior raise concerns for the safety of the child. It can adversely affect the healthy and safe development of the child. The court also stated that the child is three-and-a-half-year-old girl and therefore needs the mother's care and affection.