WORLD HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In the heavens above The angels, whispering to one another, can find, amid their burnings terms of love, None so devotional as that "mother." said Poe Edgar Allan. The above words indicate the importance of being a mother. So far as importance of a child is concerned, this has been described by the great poet Milton as under :

(2.) If above is the importance of relationship between the mother and a child, then would it be apt to keep the mother and daughter in custody when the daughter is not at fault and if the daughter is to be set free, can she be deprived of her mothers company ? This is the sum and substance of this public interest litigation.

(3.) The facts be noticed. A married lady (S), resident of Pak Occupied Kashmir had some differences with her husbands family. She left her matrimonial home and is said to have jumped into river Jhelum. She, however, swept to the Indian side of the river and was picked up by the Indian Forces. She was then handed over to the police having entered Indian territory without valid papers. She was found to have committed an offence under Egress and Internal Movement control Order. A First Information Report was lodged on 6th Oct., 1995. She was convicted on 15th Nov., 1995. She was to undergo one year imprisonment and had to pay a fine of Rs. 500. In the event of failure to pay the fine, she was to undergo a further sentence of three months. She came to be lodged in District Jail, Poonch, on 16th Nov., 1995 and thereafter in the Central Jail on 28th Jan., 1996. It was in the month of April, 1996, it was discovered that she was pregnant. When this fact came to be known, it was found that the Jail Warden of District Jail, Poonch, had committed a rape on her on 14th Jan., 1996. As a result of this illicit relations, a child who got conceived was born on 6th Oct., 1997. This female (M) child is now six years of age. According to the petitioner-counsel, the Pakistan authorities are ready and willing to have the lady (S) but not the child (M). Both of them are in custody. Appropriate writ is being sought for the release of the mother and her daughter in this public interest litigation.