KULWANT KAUR Vs. SENIOR SUPDT OF POLICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed for getting the custody of the child who, allegedly, has been forcibly taken away by respondents 2 and 3 on 29.6.1996. Circumstances giving rise to this petition can be briefly summarised as follows :

(2.) ONE Jaskeerat Kaur was married to Kuljeet Singh. It is claimed that Kuljeet Singh and his parents had a grievance that Jaskeerat Kaur has not brought sufficient dowry at the time of marriage, and had not brought enough amount on the occasion of birth of the child Jiwan, who is presently the subject matter of this litigation. The allegation further indicates that having been dis -satisfied with the dowry, and the inadequacy of the amount, as mentioned above, allegedly, on 23.10.1995 the said Kuljeet Singh and Gurmail Singh held the arms of Jaskeerat Kaur and Manjeet Kaur (mother -in -law of Jaskeerat Kaur) poured some pesticide in the glass and it was forcibly made to drink by Jaskeerat Kaur. Gurmail Singh is father of Kuljeet Singh. That is how they allegedly caused the death of Jaskeerat Kaur. It is not necessary to go into the details of the FIR, but suffice it to mention that on the basis of the FIR lodged by Jasbir Singh, the maternal uncle of the deceased, the police registered an offence under Section 304 -B read with 34, IPC against these accused. Eventually, Kuljeet Singh and Gurmail Singh were arrested by the police on 22.11.1995. It was followed by the arrest of Manjeet Kaur on 18.1.1996. Under these circumstances, the question of custody of the child Jiwan arose.

(3.) IT is not necessary to go into the question as to haw the custody of the child passed on to one person or another. The short question before me would be whether the custody of the child would be now granted to the petitioners.