ISRAT JAHAN TABASSUM Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ISRAT Jahan Tabassum (hereinafter referred to as Petitioner/mother) has filed this Habeas Corpus Petition against her ex husband, Vijay Alreja (hereinafter referred to as the Respondent/father) praying for the production of their minor daughter, Avantika and thereafter for restoring the custody of Avantika to her mother. Avantika was born on 24. 1. 2002 at dhaka, Bangladesh. She is presently about six years old. It has been asseverated in the Petition that the Respondent/father had converted to Islam faith and that they had got married under Muslim rites on 14. 10. 1997.

(2.) IN paragraph 4 of the Petition it has been pleaded that in 2005 the respondent/father "fraudulently and by misrepresenting the petitioner procured an Indian Passport for the minor child". The case of the Respondent/father is that the Petitioner/mother herself wanted an Indian Passport for the child. The petition thereafter discloses that Avantika was removed by the Respondent/father from the care and custody of the Petitioner/mother and brought to India on 17. 7. 2006 which resulted in the Petitioner/mother following them to Delhi on 25. 8. 2006. The Petitioner/mother alleges that Avantika "was sent to a Boarding school and the petitioner is not allowed to have the custody and care of the minor child which is against the interest and welfare of the child. The minor child is in a pathetic condition and the petitioner, a helpless mother, not allowed to have custody and care of the minor child. The interest and welfare of the minor child is best served in the custody and the care of the mother and not at the Boarding School". The Petition was filed in December, 2006 when avantika was in Delhi for her Winter Vacations. It is stated in the petition that the Petitioner/mother is "entitled to have the custody of her female child upto the child's puberty according to Muslim Sharia and family Laws and enforceable in Bangladesh. Even according to Indian muslim Law the Muslim Women is entitled for the custody of the minor child upto the age of child's puberty. Any contravention of this rule constitutes gross violation of Child Rights recognized in Convention on child Rights (CRC)".

(3.) WE shall briefly refer to some of the documents filed by the parties. A Document dated 10. 7. 2006 signed by the parties records the factum of Avantika being an Indian citizen holding Indian Passport No. F-0801181. This document speaks of the resolve of the parents to formally separate from each other. A letter of even date, again signed by both parties, seeks admission to Pathways World School, Gurgaon, G. D. Goenka World school, Sohna and St. Helen's Secondary School, Kurseong. In the first two requests the address of the parties is of Bangladesh, whereas in the application of St. Helen's Secondary School the address if of B-72, lajpat Nagar-II, New Delhi.