SHRADDHA GUPTA Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, and, co-respondent No. 4, entered into a legal wedlock, and, from their legal wedlock, a child named, one Arjun, was born. Since some matrimonial strife has erupted inter se the above marital partners thereupon, the custody of above Arjun, who is now aged 4 years, has been assumed by co-respondent No. 4. Consequently, the present petitioner, who is the biological mother of one Arjun, has claimed custody over Arjun, and, has obviously asked for restoration to her, of the custody of minor Arjun, through a writ of habeas corpus, being made upon co-respondents No. 4 to 10, within whose household, the above minor boy is extantly residing, and, that it being also made upon co-respondents No. 1 to 3, for the latters ensuring the retrieval, to her, of the custody of minor boy Arjun.

(2.) The gravamen of the above claim becomes grooved in the factum of the petitioner departing from the matrimonial company of her husband, given the latter subjecting her to physical cruelty. It appears that the above purported meteings of physical cruelty to the petitioner, by her husband, who is arrayed as co-respondent No. 4, in the petition, has fostered an apprehension in the mind of the petitioner, that even her minor son, is unsafe within the household of co-respondents No. 4 to 10, and, for ensuring his safety, and, besides for ensuring that the optimum befitting care, and, nourishment becomes bestowed, upon one Arjun, rather the custody of the latter, be restored from the private respondents, to her.

(3.) Though, the statutory mandate, as carried in Sec. 6 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 (for short 'Act'), provisions whereof stand hereinafter, carry a statutory contemplation, that in respect of the custody of a boy, who has not, at the relevant stage, yet completed the age of five years, "shall ordinarily be with her/his mother." 6. Natural guardians of a Hindu minor.-The natural guardian of a Hindu minor, in respect of the minor's person as well as in respect of the minor's property (excluding his or her undivided interest in joint family property), are-