Court No. - 52
Case :- HABEAS CORPUS WRIT PETITION No. - 15966 of 2017 Petitioner :- Viraj Singh Minor And Another Respondent :- Smt. Saroj Singh And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Ratnesh Kumar Pandey,Vinod Kumar Sharma Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Mrs. Vijay Lakshmi,J.
This petition has been filed by the petitioner no. 2, Divyendra Kumar Singh, father of petitioner no. 1 (corpus minor Viraj Singh) with prayer to issue a writ in the nature of habeas corpus commanding the respondents 1 and 2, who are maternal grandmother and mother of the corpus, to produce the petitioner no. 1 (corpus) before this court and to set him at liberty from their illegal custody.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and learned AGA. Perused the record.
Learned counsel for the petitioners has contended that the petitioner no. 1 (Corpus) is the minor son of petitioner no. 2. Due to some reasons the marital relations between the petitioner no. 2 and respondent no. 2 i.e. father and mother of the corpus, got strained and the respondent no. 2 shifted to Delhi with their minor son and at present she is working at Noida. It is further contended that as the mother of the corpus is a working woman, residing at Women's hostal, she did not take the corpus with her and left it with his Nani and at present the corpus is residing with his Nani at Varanasi at his maternal grant parents' house. The petitioner no. 2 was not even allowed to meet his son by the maternal grandmother of the corpus. It is further submitted that the petitioner no. 2 filed a petition under section 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act on 14.8.2014 before the Principal Judge, Family Court, Varanasi, seeking custody of his minor son, which is registered as Suit No. 869 of 2014 and is pending in the Family Court. It is further submitted that after the filing of the petition under section 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act by the petitioner no. 2, the wife-respondent no. 2 lodged an F.I.R. by means of an application under section 156(3) Cr.P.C., under sections 498A, 323, 504, 506 I.P.C. and 3/4 D. P. Act.
In the background of these circumstances, learned counsel for the petitioners has prayed that the respondent nos. 1 and 2 be directed to hand over the custody of the petitioner no. 1 to the petitioner no. 2 and not to cause any hindrance in the meeting of petitioner no. 2 with his son.
Learned AGA has raised a preliminary objection with regard to the maintainability of the petition by contending that as a petition u/s 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act is pending in the Family Court, Varanasi, the present habeas corpus petition is not maintainable.
There is no dispute that a petition u/s 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act is pending in the Family Court, Varanasi. Therefore, any observation made by this court will certainly prejudice the findings which are yet to be arrived at by the Family court on the basis of evidence led by the parties.
At this stage the learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that he confines his prayer only to the relief that the petitioner no. 2 be granted visiting rights so as to enable him to meet his son (petitioner no. 1/corpus) and the respondents 1 and 2 be directed to permit him to meet his son and not to cause any hindrance in their meeting.
Learned AGA has no objection to this prayer.
The petitioner no. 2 being the father and natural guardian of petitioner no. 1 has full rights to meet his son. Therefore, the respondents 1 and 2 are directed not to cause any hindrance in the meeting of the father and the son i.e. petitioner nos. 2 and 1, and to permit the petitioner no. 2 to meet his son i.e. petitioner no. 1 at such place and time, which the parties decide by mutual agreement. (It may be the house of some common friend.) With the the aforesaid directions this petition is finally disposed of.
Order Date :- 18.4.2017 Pcl