India, Dec. 27 -- The Bombay High Court has rejected a petition filed by a UK resident, seeking custody of his 13-year-old daughter who lives in Mumbai with his estranged wife, noting that the teenager was mature enough to make er own decisions and had chosen to stay with her mother in India.

A division bench of Justice Bharati Dangre and Justice Shyam C Chandak said they could not compel the girl to accompany her father to the UK, after finding her mature enough to make up her mind to continue to stay with her mother in India. "We are convinced that XYZ (the teenager) has matured in all these years and no decision can be forced upon her," the bench said.

The father had approached the high court in 2021 with a habeas corpus petition, cl...