New Delhi, Nov. 17: NRI women who lose custody battles abroad may no longer be able to dodge the law just by fleeing to India with their child.

The Supreme Court today ordered a woman to return to the US two years after she had left America with her seven-year-old son to avoid handing him over to her former husband.

The apex court told Vijayshree Voora she could contest the US court ruling that granted primary custody of Aditya to his father Ravichandran, but she could not keep avoiding the law.

Under US laws, no parent can abduct a child and leave for another country, thus denying the rights of the other parent. Parental abduction, however, is not a crime in India since New Delhi is yet to sign an international convention on this.

Many NRI women exploit this loophole after losing custody battles abroad, and the Indian courts tend to be lenient with them. But today’s apex court judgment would be setting a precedent for all Indian courts.

Vijayshree had left for India in June 2007 and had kept dodging Indian police as her ex-husband knocked on the courts’ doors in search of her and Aditya. On August 29 this year, the Supreme Court directed the CBI to hunt for mother and child.

The duo were traced to Chennai and since then have been in CBI custody under the apex court’s directives. After days of deliberations during which husband and wife —both highly educated professionals — failed to agree on anything, the apex court directed Vijayshree to return to the US with her child within 15 days.

If she doesn’t, the court said, Ravichandran can leave for the US with the child.

Months after she fled the US, a New York court had declared Vijayshree mentally ill, basing its judgment on earlier medical reports that said she needed immediate psychotherapy.