New Delhi, Apr 19 (IANS): The Delhi High Court has directed a man to return the custody of his nine-year-old son to his ex-wife as per the mutual decision taken at the time of their divorce.

The man had taken the child away from his mother on the pretext of spending some time with him.

A division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Gaurang Kanth, dealing with a plea by the woman seeking direction to her ex-husband to produce their son, directed the station house officer (SHO) of the police station concerned to make sure that the court's order is complied with and to provide his contact number to the woman for her to get in touch with him in case of any difficulty.

"...reserving liberty to respondent no.2 (man) to file an appropriate proceeding seeking custody of the minor son of the parties in accordance with law; the minor son is restored into the care and custody of his biological mother, the petitioner herein," the bench said.

The high court said there is no manner of doubt that at the time of obtaining a decree of divorce by mutual consent, the former couple, both lawyers, had entered into a legal and binding arrangement in relation to the custody and visitation of their minor son.

"It is further evident that the terms and conditions in relation to the custody/ visitation of the minor son has been complied with by the parties till March 18, 2023, after which respondent no. 2 took away the minor child on a false pretext of spending the day with him," the court noted.

It is claimed by the woman that when she had gone to her son's school for a parent-teacher meeting last month, her ex-husband was also present.

The man, on the contrary, said that he wished to spend the day with the son and the petitioner acceded to his request in good faith, the petition said.

However, the man backed out later and refused to give back the son to the woman.

It was the man's submission before the court that the woman was unfit to look after the well-being of their son and so he was constrained to take the minor's custody.

The high court, however, noted the woman undertook to comply with her obligations in accordance with the terms and conditions of the settlement agreement arrived at between the parties.