TMI Blog1984 (4) TMI 317X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ge they left for England, where a boy named Pritpal Singh was born to them on October 24, 1976. Within a short period after the birth of the boy, the relationship between the spouses came under a strain resulting in a serious episode. The husband was trapped by the Berkshire Police who got the scent that he was negotiating with a hitman to have the wife run over by a car. The husband was convicted and sentenced to a term of three years for that offence. Ironically, it was the wife who intervened and succeeded in obtaining a probation order for the man who had attempted to procure her murder. The husband was released on probation on February 4, 1982. The period of probation expired on December 24, 1982. On January 31, 1983, while the w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to which we have already referred. She came back to India once again, this time armed with the aforesaid order of the English High Court. She then filed the present writ petition in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, asking for the production and custody of her minor son. The learned single Judge of the High Court who dealt with the petition made an excellent effort to bring about rapprochement between the spouses but, he did not succeed. He questioned the boy more than once and he even presided the spouses to live together for a couple of days in the house of the Inspector General of Prisons, Haryana. The spouses reported back to him that they were unable to resolve their differences. The learned Judge dismissed the wife's pet ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ect for law by obtaining a duplicate passport for the boy on an untrue representation that the original passport was lost. The original passport was, to his knowledge, in the keeping, of his wife. In this background, we do not regard the affluence of the husband's parents to be a circumstance of such overwhelming importance as to tilt the balance in favour of the father on the question of what is truly for the welfare of the minor At any rate, we are unable to agree that it will be less for the welfare of the minor if he lived with his mother. He was whisked away from her and the question is whether, there are any circumstances to support the view that the new environment in which he is wrongfully brought is more conducive to his welfar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nly result in encouraging forum-shopping Ordinarily, jurisdiction must follow upon functional lines. That is to say, for example, that in matters relating to matrimony and custody, the law of that place must govern which has the closest concern with the well-being of the spouses and the welfare of the offsprings of marriage. The spouses in this case had made England their home where this boy was born to them. The father cannot deprive the English Court of its jurisdiction to decide upon his custody by removing him to India, not in the normal movement of the matrimonial home but, by an act which was gravely detrimental to the peace of that home. The fact that the matrimonial home of the spouses was in England, establishes sufficient contacts ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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