Supreme Court Criticizes Dubai Court's Child Travel Ban Order

The Supreme Court of India has strongly criticized a decision made by a court in Dubai that banned a child from travelling due to a fight between his parents. The court said this decision was “atrocious” and “a violation of human rights.”

The matter was heard by a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh on April 17. The child’s father, who is from Ghana and lives in Dubai, had filed a legal request asking the court to help him see his son. He also wanted the court to allow some other related reliefs. The Supreme Court has now issued a notice on this matter and will hear it again on April 28, 2025.

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During the hearing, the judges said that stopping someone from travelling in a family dispute is almost like putting them under “house arrest.” This kind of travel ban is not fair and goes against the basic rights of a person, especially a child.

The father told the court that his wife, who is from Bengaluru, took their child from Dubai to India without permission from the Dubai court. He claimed this act was like keeping the child illegally and without his consent.

Justice Surya Kant, while speaking to senior advocate Nikhil Goel (the lawyer for the father), said, “It was said that the mother was being held in confinement, and yet you got a court order that was truly shocking. That order clearly violated human rights. How can any court stop a child from travelling just because of a family issue?”

The judges made it clear that no court that values human rights would pass such an order. They added that placing travel restrictions like this is the same as punishing someone without proving them guilty.

The Supreme Court also questioned whether the Dubai family court even had the right to give a divorce order. Since both the husband and wife are Christians, the Indian court noted that they are not governed by Shariah (Islamic) law, which the Dubai court had used in its ruling.

The husband's lawyer said that the couple got married in Dubai and lived there together. But the Supreme Court said the most important thing in this case is the child’s well-being. The court also agreed with the Karnataka High Court’s earlier decision, which said that the local Indian family court should handle this matter.

The husband had earlier approached the Karnataka High Court and asked them to help bring his son back. He filed a "habeas corpus" petition — a legal way to ask the court to produce a person (in this case, the child) who may be held illegally.

According to the husband, he and his wife got married on April 19, 2018, under the Foreign Marriage Act of 1969, and their wedding was registered at the Consulate General of India in Dubai. Their child was born on January 24, 2019, and the family lived together in Dubai until 2021.

He claimed that one day, his wife left Dubai with their child and came back to India without telling him.

But the wife denied these claims. She said she did not run away or break any court rules. She explained that she had to leave because she was facing physical, emotional, and mental abuse from her husband. She said the abuse was also affecting their child.

She also said her husband wrongly got a Dubai court to ban their child from travelling, and this ban was unfair. According to her, the Dubai court gave custody to the husband based on Shariah law, which should not apply to them because they are Christians married under a different law — the Foreign Marriage Act.

The Supreme Court is now looking into the case, especially focusing on the father’s right to visit his child, and will give its next decision at the end of April 2025.