MEHAR CHAND Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All these petitions are being decided by a common order as the subject matter for the decision is common in all the three petitions. Vide order dated 15.01.96, S.B. Criminal Petition No. 1586/93 and S.B. Criminal Misc. Petition No. 13/94 were ordered to be tagged with Habeas Corpus Petition No. 2544/95. In this way, all these petitions came to be heard together.

(2.) The dispute relates to the custody of a minor girl, namely, Raj Kumari alias Rajni. The petitioner Mehar Chand in D.B. Habeas Corpus Petition No. 2544/95 and S.B. Criminal Misc. Petition No. 1586/95 is seeking custody of the girl claiming himself to be her father. On the other hand, Mst. Mona in S.B. Criminal Misc. Petition No. 13/94 is claiming custody of the girl stating that she is her mother.

(3.) The case of the petitioner Mehar Chand is that his daughter Kumari Rajni was kidnapped by some one on 20th Aug. 1986 when she was only 21/2 yeas old. A First information Report (FIR) bearing No. 322/86 was registered at Police Station, Kalka Ji New Delhi U/s 368 IPC. On his report, the police was trying to recover the girl, but she was not traceable as per the entries made in the case diary. That in first week of Sept. 1993 or Oct. 1993, Kumari Rajni was recovered by the Rajasthan Police along with two other minor girls, namely, Kumari Chandra Kanta and Kumari Sangeetha and photographs of all the three girls were published in newspaper. Mehar Chand's brother who lives in Jaipur, after seeing photographs intimated about the recovery of his daughter Kumari Rajni. The petitioner and his wife then moved an application before the learned Addl. Munsiff and Judicial Magistrate for the custody of the girl. According to the petitioner, Mehar Chand, the blood group of the girl was directed to be compared with that of the petitioner and his wife by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) Jaipur to ascertain the parentage of Kumari Rajni. As per the report of the F.S.L., the blood group of Kumari Rajni tallied with the petitioner and his wife. A similar application for custody of the girl was made by Smt. Mona. The learned Magistrate vide order dated, 8.12.93 rejected the application filed by the petitioner Mehar Chand and his wife Smt. Bhagwani. The petition filed by Smt. Mona was rejected on 8.11.94. The Criminal Misc. Petition No. 1586/93 has been filed by Mehar Chand and his wife, while S.B. Criminal Misc. Petition No. 13/94 has been filed by Mst. Mona being aggrieved against the aforesaid orders.