ORDER VIVEK RUSIA, J. : – The petitioner being the father of respondent No. 5 (corpus) and husband of respondent No. 4 has approached this Court by way of the present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking writ in the nature of Habeas Corpus for the custody of respondent No. 5 from respondent No. 4. The petitioner has filed the present petition through his father by giving the Power of Attorney. At the time of filing the present petition, the petitioner was in Toronto( Canada).

Facts of the case According to the petitioner, he is a permanent resident of Canada. He was married to respondent No. 4 on 18-1-2014 in Lonavala following Hindu customs and rituals. After the marriage, the petitioner and respondent No. 4 were shifted to Chicago (USA). Respondent No. 4 gave birth to respondent No. 5 on 29-8-2016 in Chicago, hence she is a citizen of the USA by birth. According to the petitioner, his parents as well as his in-laws used to visit Chicago and stay with them. Respondent No. 4 with an intention to settle in the USA took admission to Masters in Architecture and for which the entire expenses were borne by the petitioner and his relatives. In the year 2019, the petitioner was accepted by the College in Canada for the Degree of MBA and he was given the approval of permanent residency in Canada on 7-6-2018. Respondent No. 4 decided to stay in Chicago to complete her Master’s course in Architecture and the petitioner alone moved to Toronto to pursue the studies of MBA.

2. The petitioner, respondent No. 4 and respondent No. 5 came to India in month of December, 2019 during Christmas break to attend the marriage in the family. Thereafter, they all returned to Canada and Chicago respectively to pursue their studies. They again travelled to India in the month of June, 2020.

3. According to the petitioner, in April, 2021, the parents of respondent No. 4 came to Canada and stayed with them up to September, 2021. They started disturbing his family life and due to this respondent No. 4 started fighting with him. In the month of December, 2021, respondent No. 4 argued with the petitioner and after which she left the house along with respondent No. 5 with all important documents like her passport, etc. to live in the house of her cousin’s brother in Canada. However, after two days, she called the petitioner to take her back to the house in Chicago. After returning home, respondent No. 4 insisted the petitioner to sign a written permission allowing her to take respondent No. 5 to India. The parents of respondent No. 4 also requested the petitioner to send respondents No. 4 and 5 to India. On their request, the petitioner agreed to send them to India for a short visit with the hope of their return by April, 2022. According to the petitioner, he was not permitted to contact his daughter so he came to India and tried to solve the dispute amicably with the help of common friends. Even in India, he was not permitted to meet his daughter. Somehow, on 2-4-2022 respondent No. 4 allowed the petitioner to meet with his daughter and during a short meeting, she disclosed her willingness to stay with him. The petitioner had a return ticket to Canada on 6-4-2022 and on his boarding respondent No. 4 disclosed her intention of cancelling her tickets of 10-4-2022 for Canada and decided to stay in India with respondent No. 5. The petitioner was informed that respondent No. 5 has been given admission in a School at Indore. According to the petitioner, respondent No. 5 deserves better education and a standard of life that she can get only in the USA or in Canada. Thereafter, various emails were exchanged between the petitioner and respondent No. 4 to resolve the dispute.

4. Respondent No. 4 sent a divorce notice to the petitioner on 28-4-2022 through her lawyer. The petitioner replied to it denying the divorce. Since respondent No. 4 has made up her mind to stay in India with respondent No. 5 depriving the petitioner to stay with his wife