JALBHAI CURSETJI DRIVER Vs. JERBAI HORMASJI PALKHIVALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal raises the question, whether the father of an infant, or the maternal grandmother, ought to be allowed to perform the Navjote or thread ceremony, according to the Zoroastrian faith, in respect of the infant who is a ward of Court and whose parents were Parsis.

(2.) Now, the relevant facts are that the parents of the minor were married in 1917, and the wife died in 1929. During the lifetime of the wife, the minor lived a great part of the time with the wife's mother, who is the present respondent.

(3.) After the death of the wife, the father of the minor presented a petition in the matter of the Guardians and Wards Act, Act VIII of 1890, and in the matter of the infant, in which he asked for directions as to the custody and maintenance of the infant, and in September 19 29 a consent order was made under which the petition was adjourned sine die, the infant was to live for six months of the year with the father and six months of the year with her grandmother, the respondent, the party having the custody of the minor during the period of six months was to maintain the minor, and the father was to pay and bear the school fees, and then there was to be liberty to apply.