Japan court orders mother to return child

Osaka Family Court ordered a Japanese woman on Wednesday to return her 4-year-old child to her Japanese husband living in Sri Lanka under the Hague treaty to settle cross-border child custody disputes.

As the couple and the child lived in Sri Lanka from February last year, and the child went to school there, the court said in its judgment that the child’s original place of residence is Sri Lanka.

The woman took her child to Japan when she returned to this country in June and has since kept the child in Japan without the permission of her husband, the ruling said.