Custody of daughter has been given to her father by the Madhya Pradesh High Court, with free access and periodic stays for the mother, on the condition that custody will revert to the mother if he remarries or enters a live-in relationship.
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Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has granted a father custody of his four-and-a-half-year-old daughter while disposing of his petition over a missing wife and child, directing that the mother will have free access to the child and one-week stays every two months, and that custody must be handed back to her if he remarries or enters a live-in relationship [Shyam Kushwaha v. State of Madhya Pradesh and Others].
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Alpesh Y. Kogje and Justice Vivek Jain passed the order on September 30, 2026, in Writ Petition No. 39794 of 2026. The order was authored by Chief Justice Kogje.
The case
The petitioner approached the High Court after his wife and their minor daughter went missing. A missing person report dated February 6, 2026 had been registered as Rojnamcha No. 017. He sought the record of the police inquiry, a direction for a fair, effective and expeditious investigation to trace both, and examination of his wife’s mobile number and bank transactions, with action against anyone concealing or withholding their whereabouts. He also prayed that, if his wife was found confined by anyone against her will, the petition be treated as a habeas corpus plea and she be allowed to live with him if she agreed.
On an earlier direction of September 25, the police produced the mother and the child before the Bench. They had been found in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, with a man. The Court spoke to the mother individually and in the presence of counsel, and also interacted with the man.
What the Court said
The Bench recorded that the mother appeared “capable of understanding the consequences of her acts”. She told the Court that she wished to go with the man, which she attributed to matrimonial differences with her husband, and she was ready and willing to let the child go with her father. After interacting with the man and considering his financial status and background, the Court found it fit to give the child’s custody to the petitioner. It also noted the composition of the father’s household, which includes other family members.
The conditions on custody
To keep the mother in the child’s life, the Court attached two conditions. Whenever the mother wishes to meet her daughter, she is free to visit the petitioner, who must give her free access. And the petitioner must send the girl to the mother, wherever she is located, once every two months for one week. The Bench described the mother’s concern as “also a reasonable one” and made the father’s custody conditional: it continues only till he gets remarried, and if he remarries or enters a live-in relationship, it is incumbent on him to hand over possession of the child to the mother.
With these directions, the petition was disposed of. The child and the parties are not named in this report, to protect the child.
Why the order matters
The order turns a missing person petition into a custody arrangement fixed on the mother’s consent, with structured access for her and a built-in trigger that returns the child to her if the father’s circumstances change. The Court records no finding on the merits of any allegation between the spouses, and its direction depends on the facts of this case alone.
Case Title: Shyam Kushwaha v. State of Madhya Pradesh and Others [Writ Petition No. 39794 of 2026]
Bench: Chief Justice Alpesh Y. Kogje and Justice Vivek Jain, Madhya Pradesh High Court, Jabalpur
Date of Order: September 30, 2026
Appearances: Advocate Baldeo Prasad Patel (petitioner); Government Advocate Dr. S.S. Chouhan (State)