On Wednesday, the Karnataka High Court directed the police to contact the employer of a woman to ensure that her pay and benefits are stopped until she complies with a judicial order of transferring the custody of the daughter to her husband.
A bench of Justice Alok Aradhe and Ananth Ramnath Hegde noted that a coordinate bench of the Court had issued many directions to secure the presence of the minor daughter. The bench had also directed to initiate civil and criminal contempt proceeding against her.
Not complying with directions could be considered as an abuse of the litigation, the Court said.
It all took place while the Court was hearing a habeas corpus plea filed by the father of the minor. He was not relieved due to the non-execution of a family court in order of March 2022 in which the woman was directed to hand over child’s custody to the father of the minor girl.
In woman’s arguments, she said that the daughter was not in an illegal custody. She told further that she had separated from the petitioner when their daughter was 3 years old, and now, after 5 years, the petitioner was asking for the custody.
She insisted that the proceedings were being initiated only with the aim to harass her and her father. She also told that the petitioner had also failed to provide the required maintenance amount to her.
She contended that the Court’s interference was not warranted as she informed the Court that for the execution of the family court judgement, the proceedings had already been initiated.
The Court ruled that the woman could not be permitted for the continual of the child’s custody as the same was in contravention of its judgement that have attained finality and were binding on both the parties.
The Court also directed the Commissioner of Police to ensure that the custody of the minor is handed over to the petitioner by the concerned Station House Officer (SHO).
Moreover, the Court also directed the Police to contact woman’s employer to hold back her payouts and benefits until she complies with the order.
Advocate Gowtham Raghunath and Senior Advocate S Sreevastava represented the petitioner.
Special Public Prosecutor VS Hegde appeared for the State of Karnataka.
Senior Advocate MT Nanaiah and advocate MC Kumaraswamy appeared for the respondent-wife.
Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/karnataka-high-court-employer-hold-back-pay-benefits-woman-until-she-hands-over-custody-child-husband