International Parental Child Abduction: An Explorative Analysis of Legal Standards and Judicial Interpretation in India

This article gives an explorative analysis of legal landscapes of international child abduction by parents in India. The international child abduction cases typically involve couples in failed matrimonial relationships, where one parent unilaterally takes the child back to his or her native country. The article examines the principles propounded by the Indian judiciary in these cases and the latest Indian legislative initiative to tackle the problem, the draft Civil Aspects of International Parental Abduction Bill, 2016, which was open for public comments. The article considers whether the Bill is in conformity with Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980 and whether it provides a strong mechanism to tackle international parental child abduction.