Court directs NRI mom to return to US with son

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Vijaysree Voora, the run away non-resident Indian mother, to return to the United States along with her minor son Aditya and husband Ravichandran within 15 days.

A bench of justices Tarun Chatterji, R M Lodha and B S Chauhan ruled that if Vijaysree fails to comply with the direction, the husband would be entitled to the custody of the child after the 15-day period and can take him to the US on his own.

While giving the direction, the court said the husband would bear all expenses for their return and stay in the US till they move the appropriate court in New York for custody of the child.

The apex court passed the direction on a habeas corpus petition filed by Ravichandran, who had full custodial rights to the child. His estranged wife had fled to India along with Aditya in 2007 and kept dodging the police of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Assam.

The Central Bureau of Investigation, after taking up the investigation on August 29 this year following the apex court's direction, managed to apprehend Vijaysree and Aditya on October 25 from Chennai and produced them before the court.

Following a divorce decree by a court in New York in June 2007, joint custody rights of the child were granted to the estranged couple who were domiciled in the US. However, Vijaysree subsequently breached the joint custody consent decree and fled to India.

After Vijaysree fled the US along with her minor son, the court there converted the joint custody rights into full custody rights in favour of Ravichandran.