KESHAWANAND GUPTA Vs. AFROZA BEGUM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application by Keshawanand Gupta under Section 30 of the Rajasthan high Court Ordinance (No. 15 of 1949) (hereinafter called the Ordinance) praying that orders be passed directing the opposite parties to return the minor vinodkumar alias Ismail to the custody of the applicant. It is not necessary for present purposes to set out the facts pleaded in the application. It is enough to say that the application is being opposed by the opposite parties and a preliminary point as to the jurisdiction of this Court to entertain this application has been raised. We are at present concerned with this preliminary point relating to jurisdiction.

(2.) THE brief facts, which are necessary to determine this question, are these. The applicant, Keshawanand Gupta is a resident of Mirpur, Jammu Kashmir, but was residing at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh when the present application was made by him. The opposite parties are said to be husband and wife and were, at the time the application was made, confined in the Central Jail at Jaipur. They are Pakistan nationals, but were said to be visiting Jaipur when the application was made. The minor Vinod Kumar alias Ismail was with the opposite parties in Jaipur when the application was made. The applicant contends that as the minor was within the jurisdiction of this Court when the application wan made and is so even now, this Court has jurisdiction under Section 30 of the Ordinance to pass necessary orders in the matter. It may be mentioned that the applicant had applied to the District Judge, Jaipur, under Section 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act (No. 8 of 1890), hereinafter called the Act, but withdrew that application as there was doubt about the jurisdiction of the District Judge.

(3.) SECTION 30 of the Ordinance is as follows :