CROSS BORDER PARENTAL CHILD ABDUCTIONS: LEGAL REGULATIONS AND PRACTICE OF INDIAN COURT

Abstract

The problem of cross-border parental child abduction has been increasing at an alarming rate where the rights of child are being violated by their own parents. The various reasons are present for international child abduction like breakdown of marriage, defying custodial orders, bigamy in the other country and to scapegoat from the laws of country. In the international scenario, Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980 multilateral treaty came up to protect the rights of children. The research paper will mainly focus on the cross- border child abduction and its legal implications under Hague Convention. India has not signed The Hague convention on Child Abduction and these types of cases are merely decided based on the interpretation of the judiciary on the doctrine of paramount interest of child. The main theme of this paper revolves around the regulation and judicial trend of Indian Courts in international child abduction cases. Now India is being refereed as safe haven for the parent who abducts the child and scapegoat from the reach of international laws. The draft of International Child Abduction Bill, 2016 is the positive step towards this direction. The research paper concludes by analysing the lacunas in the Indian legal scenario with regard to international child abduction and provides some recommendations to address the concern of these children.