Karnataka High Court directs employer to hold back pay and benefits of woman until she hands over custody of child to husband

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday, directed the police to get in touch with the employer of a woman and ensure that her pay and benefits are withheld until she complies with a judicial order to return custody of her daughter to her husband [Dr Rajeev Giri vs State of Karnataka and Ors.]..A bench of Justice Alok Aradhe and Anant Ramnath Hegde noted that a coordinate bench of the Court had issued several directions to secure the presence of the minor child and had also directed initiation of civil and criminal contempt proceeding against the woman.Not complying with these directions amounted to an abuse of the process of law, the Court said..The Court was hearing a habeas corpus plea filed by the father of the minor child. He was aggrieved by the non-execution of a family court order of March 2022 which had directed the mother to hand over the minor child to him under Section 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act..The woman argued that the daughter was not in illegal custody. She explained that she had separated from the petitioner when their daughter was 3 years old, and now, 5 years later, the petitioner was seeking custody.She insisted that the proceedings were being initiated solely to harass her and her father. Further, she said that the petitioner had failed to provide the required amount of maintenance to her.She also informed the Court that for the execution of the family court judgment, proceedings had already been initiated. Hence, she contended that the Court's interference was not warranted..The Court ruled that the woman could not be allowed to continue with the custody of the child as the same was in contravention of its judgments that have attained finality and were binding on the parties.Accordingly, the Court directed the Commissioner of Police to ensure that the concerned Station House Officer (SHO) hands over the custody of the daughter to the petitioner within 24 hours from the date of receipt of the order.It further directed the police to contact the employer of the wife to hold back all benefits payable to her until she complies with the order..Senior Advocate S Sreevatsa and advocate Gowtham Raghunath appeared for 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..[Read Order]