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Judgment
Heard Mr. Anan Bhuyan, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. D. Nath, learned Addl. Senior Govt. advocate appears for respondent nos. 1, 2
and 4.
By virtue of this habeas corpus petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the case projected by the petitioner is that he is the
father and natural guardian of his minor daughter, namely, Ms. Avantika Mahanta. The wife of the petitioner had died on 03.09.2019. It is also
projected that on 20.09.2019, he has dropped his minor daughter at the house of respondent nos. 5 and 6, mother-in-law and father-in-law of petitioner.
On the same day, an FIR was lodged against the petitioner under Section 498A I.P.C. and it is projected that on 28.09.2019, while the petitioner
visited the house of the respondent no.5 to bring back his child, he was assaulted and accordingly, an FIR was lodged by him before the Dispur Police
Station.
The petitioner projects that he had approached the Assam State Child Rights Commission and the said authority had directed the Commissioner of
Police (respondent no.2) to lodge a case against the private respondents for forcefully and illegally confining his daughter and for not returning his
child. It is projected that on 01.10.2019, the respondent no. 6 was directed by the Child Working Committee to keep the minor child at Children’s
Home, which was rejected and she refused to hand over the charge of the minor to the Children’s Home or to the petitioner. It is projected that
although, by order dated 04.10.2019, the petitioner and private respondents were directed to appear before the CWC, but the private respondents did
not appear before the Child Working Committee nor produced the child. Thereafter, a proceeding being Misc.(G) Case No. 161/2019 was instituted
before the Principal Judge, Family Court-II, Guwahati and the minor child of the petitioner was examined on 09.03.2019 and the respondent no.6 was
directed to hand over the child to the petitioner on every Saturday evening at 4:00 PM to take her to his house and bring her back on the evening of
the Sunday by 6:00 PM. It is projected that on 08.05.2021, when the petitioner brought the child to his home, containment zone was declared in his
area and the petitioner could not drop back his daughter. Later on, the child was taken away by the respondent nos.6, 7, 10 and 11 and that they never
returned back the child and accordingly, Dispur PS Case No. 1771/2021 was lodged by the petitioner. Hence, as the petitioner was not allowed the
custody of the child as per the direction issued by the Family Court-II, the present habeas corpus petition is filed.
The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the Court proceedings of Family Court-II, Guwahati is not been conducted and the petitioner was
not permitted to enter the Court premises with his counsel and it is submitted that the case of the petitioner was also not taken up by the video
conferencing mode also.
Issue notice returnable on 05.08.2021.
As the learned Govt. advocate accepts notice on behalf of the respondent nos. 1, 2 and 4, requisite extra copies of the writ petition be furnished to
him within 2 days.
The petitioner shall take steps within 2(two) days for service of notice on the respondent nos. 5 to 11 by registered post with A/D as well as by
dasti by routing the process through the Registry of this Court and upon service, an affidavit of service shall be filed prior to the next date fixed.
The learned counsel for the petitioner shall ascertain whether the respondent no. 3 office exist and taken appropriate steps.
As an interim measure, the respondent no.4 is directed to take appropriate steps for recovery of the minor child of the petitioner, namely, Avantika
Mahanta, aged about 9 years, daughter of Partha Pratim Mahanata from the house of the respondent nos. 5 and 6 and thereafter, the respondent no.4
shall inform the petitioner over his mobile No. +91 6361321036 so that he can collect the child from police station on 28.06.2021, subject to undertaking
by the petitioner that he would return back the said minor child to visit respondent nos. 5 and 6 on 1st July, 2021 (forenoon).
The Court is further inclined to provide that on an application filed by the petitioner, the Principal Judge, Family Court-II, Guwahati shall fix a date
in connection with Misc.(G) Case No. 161/2019 and on that date fixed, the matter would be taken up either physically or through video conferencing
mode for passing orders regarding visitation right of the petitioner in respect of his minor daughter.
The petitioner is granted liberty to produce a downloaded copy of the order before the respondent no.4 and the respondent no. 4 shall be at liberty
to verify the correctness of the order from the website of the Court and act accordingly.
The Court Master shall send a copy of this order to the learned Senior Govt. Advocate.
List on 05.08.2021.