May 10, 2019:
Delhi High Court has held that in a writ of habeas corpus, the Court is not entitled to examine the issue of paternity and that the primary consideration of the Court is not the legal right of this or that party, but the welfare of the minor.
A bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Sehgal has passed the order in the case titled as MOHD. ARMAN vs STATE OF NCT OF DELHI on 08.05.2019.
Petition was filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking issuance of a writ of habeas corpus for production of respondent No.2, who is currently in the custody of respondent No.3 (Bal Sahyog) and to hand over his custody to the petitioners after due verification. In essence, the petitioners’ claim is that respondent No.2 is their lost son whose custody should be handed over to the petitioners after conducting a paternity test.
Learned counsel for the petitioners states that a perusal of the photographs of the parties show a stark resemblance between their lost son Ali Raza and the respondent No.2. He further states that the dialect of the respondent No.2 resembles that of petitioners and the age of respondent No.2 is about the same as it would have been of Master Ali Raza.
High Court however did not agree and dismiss the Writ by observing "However, in a petition asking for the writ of habeas corpus, this Court is not entitled to examine the issue of paternity. The primary consideration of the Court in a writ petition for custody of a minor is not the legal right of this or that party, but the welfare of the minor.... Since the welfare of the minor is not the issue in the present case and further the minor is not in unauthorised and/or illegal detention of respondent No.3, this Court is of the view that the present writ petition is not maintainable".
Read the order here:
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