THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.V.SEETHAPATHY WRIT PETITION No.1381 of 2010 Date: 18.02.2010 Between : Mohd. Khaja … Petitioner And The State of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Secretary, Department of Home Affairs, Secretariat, Hyderabad and others. … Respondents THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.V.SEETHAPATHY WRIT PETITION No.1381 of 2010 ORAL ORDER : (per the Hon’ble Sri Justice D.S.R.Varma) Heard learned counsel appearing for the petitioner as well as the learned Assistant Government Pleader, representing the learned Advocate General, appearing for respondent Nos.1 to 3. 2. The grievance of the petitioner in this writ petition is that the custody of his daughter-Ayesha Firdous, respondent No.5, is withheld by his divorced wife, who is arrayed as respondent No.4 herein, against his will and wish. Therefore, he seeks the production of his daughter before this Court and handover her custody to him. 3. Learned counsel for petitioner brought to the notice of this Court several facts contending inter alia that after the marriage, respondent No.4-wife lived with the petitioner for 140 days and because of some internal squabbles left to her parents house. Again due to the conciliation by the police, respondent No.4 joined the petitioner and subsequently there was again separation. Subsequently, respondent No.4 filed M.C.No.60 of 2008 before the Family Court, Secunderabad, seeking to grant maintenance. While the matter is pending, the petitioner appears to have filed an interlocutory application for the custody of respondent No.5-child and the same was dismissed as not maintainable. It is also brought to the notice of this Court that the petitioner divorced respondent No.4 owing to the fact that respondent No.4 expressed her unwillingness to join the petitioner and lead the marital life. 4. Now, the whole concern of the petitioner is that his daughter, who is aged about 6 years, is in the custody of respondent No.4, which is not acceptable to the petitioner because of various reasons presented before this Court. One among the said reasons, unfortunately, is that the character of respondent No.4-wife was in serious doubt and in that atmosphere the child cannot be brought up well. The other ground on which the petitioner seeks custody of the child is that he is employed in Air Force and, therefore, he can take care of the welfare of the child in a better way. In other words, the interest of the child would be well protected by him rather than his wife- respondent No.4, who is presently staying with her parents. It is further contended on behalf of the petitioner that the paternal grand-parents of the child are also willing to take the custody of the child and pay attention to the welfare of the child. Therefore, the petitioner seeks custody of the child. 5. At the outset, we are of the view that these submissions cannot be accepted by this Court, nor this Court can go into all those aspects. After all, the female child, who is presently aged about 6 years, is in the custody of the natural parent-mother. Therefore, it cannot be said in the context of the present Writ of Habeas Corpus proceedings that the child is in the illegal custody of respondent No.4, being the natural mother of the child. Therefore, we are of the opinion that the Court below had rightly dismissed the application filed by the petitioner seeking custody of the child for the reason that in a maintenance case such a relief cannot be sought for and there is no necessity to express our view in this regard. 6. Therefore, if the petitioner seeks the custody of respondent No.5-daughter, we are of the view that certainly this is not the appropriate forum to have the said grievance redressed. The petitioner can workout his remedies in an appropriate forum as permissible under law. 7. With the above observations, without going into the merits of the case, the writ petition is dismissed, at the stage of admission. There shall be no order as to costs. ________________________ JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA _____________________________ JUSTICE G.V.SEETHAPATHY 18.02.2010 Msr THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.V.SEETHAPATHY WRIT PETITION No.1381 of 2010 18.02.2010 (Msr)