Cuttack: A two-year-old girl should not be uprooted from the familiar environment of her paternal grandparents’ home merely to satisfy her mother’s custody claim, Orissa high court has ruled, stressing that a child’s welfare must take precedence over competing claims by parents.Dismissing a habeas corpus petition filed by Nenelle Beronilla Dayandayan, a Philippines national working as a kindergarten teacher in Hanoi, Vietnam, a division bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Chittaranjan Dash, in its Nov 10 judgment, refused to hand over the child to her mother but put in place arrangements to ensure regular interaction between them.The mother had approached the high court on Feb 18 alleging that she had been denied access to her daughter since Nov 2025. The child currently stays with her paternal grandparents at Gholapur in Odisha’s Jajpur district. Her father, Mrutunjaya Kar, an Indian national working as a cyber-security professional in Singapore, frequently visits his parental home and takes care of the child. The couple was not legally married.The court order mentioned that the petitioner got into a live-in relationship with Kar and gave birth to a girl in Bengaluru on Nov 26, 2023. Thereafter, the couple’s relationship soured. But the baby remained in India as a citizen and a passport was issued in her favour on Jan 1, 2026.Explaining broader parameters of child welfare, the HC bench observed, “It is no gain saying that welfare principles are not restricted solely on the physical comfort and/or material advantages but founded upon a variety of factors, viz. general, psychological, spiritual and emotional welfare.”An important consideration was the child’s established bond with her grandparents, with whom she had been living since a few months after birth.“In Indian society, the grandparents also play a very important role in overall development of a child,” the bench observed, adding that the photographs submitted with the petition did not indicate any psychological problem and the child appeared happy.The judges cautioned that “uprooting the child from the settled position could invite a cascading effect on her”. However, acknowledging the mother’s right to maintain a relationship with her daughter, the HC directed the grandparents to facilitate daily video calls, subject to the child’s routine and comfort.Whenever the mother visits India, she must be allowed exclusive time with the child. Before her departure for Vietnam or the Philippines, the daughter would be handed back to the grandparents, the HC ordered.Significantly, the HC directed the father to bear the mother’s air travel expenses, accommodation in Odisha and other necessary arrangements for her visits.The bench took note of the mother’s employment in Vietnam and observed that there was no one else to look after the child while she discharged her professional responsibilities. It also noted that she had children from her first marriage who were living in the Philippines.