ATOWAR ALI Vs. MUSTT JAITUN NESSA BIBI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE moot question, raised in this Criminal Petition, is this : Whether it is permissible, under the law, for a Magistrate, specified in Section 97 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (in short, "the Code"), to direct production before him of a male muslim child, aged about two years, if such a child is as alleged by the mother of the child to have been forcibly removed from her custody by her husband and kept confined against her will? Yet another important question, which this Criminal Petition raises, is this : Is forcible removal of a male muslim child, aged about two years, by his father from the custody of his mother amounts to an offence of wrongful confinement within the meaning of Section 340 IPC?

(2.) BEFORE I enter into the merit of the present petition, the material facts, leading to this petition, may be noted as follows :

(3.) I have heard Mr. A. M. Mazumdar, learned Senior counsel for the petitioners, and Mr. S. C. Biswas, learned counsel for the complainant opposite party.