Guardians and Wards Act, 1890

The husband filed a contempt petition against his wife and her mother for violating an unconditional undertaking given to the Supreme Court that the child would be brought back to India and that they would appear before the Family Court when required. Despite multiple notices and adjournments, the wife remained absent …

The appellant, Usha Pillai, was appointed guardian of her granddaughter Nivedita after the child's mother committed suicide. The child's father, R.K. Srinivas, abducted the child and took her to the United States, leading the appellant to file a kidnapping complaint. During the criminal trial, the father obtained exemp…

The appellant, a US permanent resident, filed a writ petition in Karnataka High Court seeking habeas corpus to have his 11‑year‑old son, a naturalised US citizen born in the United States, returned to the US. The child had been taken to India by the mother without the father's consent in March 2020, and US courts had i…

The mother, a working professional, filed a petition seeking permanent custody of her two minor children, alleging the father might forcibly remove them. The Family Court restrained the father and granted limited visitation, which the father appealed. The High Court then ordered a 15‑day monthly interim custody for eac…

The mother, Akella Lalitha, gave birth to a child with her first husband Konda Balaji, who died shortly after. She later remarried Akella Ravi Narasimha Sarma, and the child's grandparents sought guardianship and visitation, later prompting the High Court to order a restoration of the child's original surname and to re…

The petitioner, a Spanish citizen, filed a writ petition under Article 32 seeking a habeas corpus order for custody of his two minor children who were residing with their mother (respondent No.6) in Kolkata. The petitioner had already instituted a petition under Section 12 of the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, for cust…

Rajesh K. Gupta, a Supreme Court advocate, filed a writ of habeas corpus seeking custody of his daughter Rose Mala, who was residing with her mother Aruna Gupta and the maternal grandparents. He alleged that the mother suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and that the child had been abducted by the grandparents. The De…

The husband and wife obtained a mutual‑consent divorce under Section 13‑B of the Hindu Marriage Act, agreeing that the mother would retain custody of their son and the father would have fortnightly visitation. Both parties later filed applications under Section 26 of the Act seeking to modify the custody arrangement: t…

The suit concerned property of Petha Gounder that had been sold by his son Balaraman both in his own name and on behalf of his minor son Palanivel without court permission, violating Section 8 of the Hindu Minority & Guardianship Act, 1956. The plaintiffs, sons of Kannan, filed a suit in 1992 for declaration and posses…

The Society (St. Theresa's Tender Loving Care Home) sought permission to place a five‑year‑old girl, Sahiti, for inter‑country adoption by two U.S. residents. The child was said to have been relinquished by her mother, but the relinquishment deed was later found to be fabricated and the Society had been prosecuted for …

The husband and wife obtained a decree of divorce by mutual consent in 2008. The wife later filed a criminal complaint under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 alleging the divorce decree was a sham and that they continued to live together. The husband moved the trial magistrate under Section 482 …

The parties divorced after a period of separation; the mother later remarried. Their 12‑year‑old son had been living with the mother. The father filed a petition under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 seeking custody. The trial court, after interviewing the child who expressed a clear desire to remain with his mother,…

The appellant, Gautam Kumar Das, lost his wife and father to COVID-19 shortly after the birth of his daughter Sugandha and temporarily handed her over to his late wife's sister. After remarrying, he sought to regain custody, filing a petition under the Guardians and Wards Act and later a habeas corpus writ, but the Del…

The father, Gaurav Nagpal, had retained custody of his minor child after allegedly kidnapping and confining the mother, Sumedha Nagpal, and repeatedly violating court orders. The mother filed an application under Section 6 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 and Section 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act, 1…

The appellant-father and respondent-mother obtained a mutual consent divorce, with the mother given permanent custody of their son and the father granted interim weekend custody. The father later filed an execution petition to enforce the decree, while the mother filed an application seeking modification of the interim…

The father (Aman Lohia) filed a guardianship petition under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 and the Family Courts Act, 1984 seeking declaration as guardian of his two‑year‑old daughter. The mother (Kiran Lohia) did not file a written statement but filed several applications under CPC, including a Section 151 applicat…

Advocate Chander Prakash Tyagi was engaged by Banarsi Das to seek guardianship of his grandson under the Guardians and Wards Act. The complainant alleged that Tyagi, after receiving a fee, colluded with the opponents and later accepted a brief from them to file a suit against the same grandson. The State Bar Council di…

The parties were married under the Special Marriage Act and had a daughter born in 1990. The mother left the matrimonial home with the child in 2000, prompting the father to file a habeas corpus petition and applications under Sections 7 and 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 and Section 6 of the Hindu Minority an…

The father filed a habeas corpus petition after the mother left India with their daughter and allegedly left their five‑year‑old son with the maternal grandparents without informing him, violating UK High Court video‑call orders. The High Court of Punjab & Haryana directed that interim custody of the son be handed over…

The wife filed for divorce and custody of her US‑citizen children in a US court, which issued an interim order directing the father to appear for conciliation and later granted him temporary physical custody, ordering the children be returned to the US. She then travelled to India and, concealing the US proceedings, fi…

Mukul Bhasin and Harshita Bhasin, married in 2007, separated in 2013 and have two minor children aged eight and five. The husband filed a petition under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 for dissolution of marriage and custody, while the wife filed a habeas corpus petition. The Calcutta High Court refused interim custo…

The case involved a matrimonial dispute between Depti Bhandari and Nitin Bhandari, centering on visitation rights to their minor daughter after the mother shifted residence from Jaipur to Delhi. The father had been granted visitation rights in Jaipur, but the mother sought to modify the order to allow visitation in Del…

After the mother died shortly after giving birth, the child was placed with his maternal grandfather, who applied for guardianship under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890. The father also filed a petition for custody under the same Act. The District Judge appointed the grandfather as guardian until the child turned 12,…

The petition filed by a mother under Article 32 sought a writ of habeas corpus to compel the father to return their two minor children, who were US residents, from India to the United States in accordance with a shared parenting plan ordered by an Ohio court. The Supreme Court examined whether a writ of habeas corpus i…

The petitioner, a U.S. citizen, married a U.S. citizen husband and had two children who are U.S. citizens. After a visit to India, the petitioner refused to return to the United States with the children, prompting the husband to obtain custody orders in a Connecticut Superior Court and later file a habeas corpus petiti…

Mausami Moitra Ganguli and Jayant Ganguli were married in 1996 and had a son in 1998. The mother left the matrimonial home in 2001 due to alleged domestic violence, leaving the three‑year‑old child with the father. After a divorce decree in 2002, the mother filed a petition under Sections 10 and 25 of the Guardians and…

A five‑year‑old boy lost his parents to COVID‑19. The paternal grandfather filed a writ of habeas corpus seeking custody of the child, who was then staying with his maternal aunt. The Gujarat High Court ordered custody to be transferred to the aunt, citing her younger age, income and larger family. On appeal, the Supre…

Social workers appealed against a district judge’s order that appointed a Norwegian couple as guardian of a child from an orphanage under Section 7 of the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, with the superintendent acting as power of attorney holder. The Supreme Court examined whether the adoption complied with the guidelin…

The widowed mother, Smt. Anokha, consented to the adoption of her infant daughter Alka by an Italian couple who had known the family for years. The couple filed a petition under Sections 7, 10 and 17 of the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, submitting extensive evidence of their suitability. The District Judge and the Raj…

The case concerned an application by the father, Abhijit Kundu, for custody of his six‑year‑old son Antariksh, while the child was in the care of his maternal grandparents who had lodged an FIR against the father under Sections 498A and 304 IPC for the alleged murder of the mother. The trial court and the Calcutta High…

Stephanie Joan Becker, an American citizen, applied under Sections 7 and 26 of the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, to be appointed guardian of a 10‑year‑old Indian orphan named Tina and to take her abroad for adoption. The trial court and the Delhi High Court rejected the applications, holding that Becker, at 53 years o…

The appellants, two brothers, filed a suit in 1985 seeking a declaration that they were entitled to two‑thirds of a family property and that a sale deed executed by their father in favour of the second defendant was not binding on their share. The suit was filed on behalf of the younger brother, who was a minor at the …

The case concerned a two‑year‑seven‑month‑old girl whose mother died in an unnatural death. The child had been in the care of her maternal aunts and grandparents since she was 11 months old. The father, who had been arrested and later released on bail, filed a habeas‑corpus petition before the Madhya Pradesh High Court…

An unwed Christian mother filed a petition under Section 7 of the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, seeking to be appointed guardian of her five‑year‑old son. The Guardian Court dismissed the petition because the mother refused to disclose the name and address of the child’s putative father, holding that Section 11 requir…

The mother filed a habeas corpus petition seeking custody of her minor daughter, but the Allahabad High Court dismissed the petition and granted only two hours of visitation per month at the District Legal Services Authority office. The mother appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that such limited and formal visitati…

The Supreme Court entertained a public‑interest writ petition filed by advocate Laxmi Kant Pandey, seeking to restrain private agencies from sending Indian children abroad for adoption and to direct the Union, the Indian Council of Social Welfare and the Indian Council of Child Welfare to fulfill their duties. Relying …

The Supreme Court considered the custody of an 11‑year‑old daughter, Gospi, of a divorced Parsi couple. The lower courts had awarded custody to the father, but the mother appealed, arguing that the child's welfare required her custody and continued education in a boarding school. The Court held that the welfare of the …

The dispute involved the custody of two minor sons of an Indian couple married under Muslim Personal Law and residing in Qatar. After a divorce, the Qatar court granted custody of the children to the mother and guardianship to the father, but later revoked the mother's custody when she removed the children to India wit…

The mother, Nithya Anand Raghavan, removed her seven‑year‑old daughter Nethra from the United Kingdom to India and the father filed a writ of habeas corpus in Delhi seeking the child's production and compliance with a UK court order directing her return. The Delhi High Court ordered the mother to produce the child and …

Mohan Kumar Rayana and Komal Mohan Rayana, a married couple, separated after the birth of their daughter Anisha. The mother obtained custody of the child from the Family Court, while the father was granted limited visitation rights. The Bombay High Court subsequently reduced the father's access, directed both parents t…