ORDER

The petitioner is the mother of a child of tender age of about two years and claims his custody on the ground that she has been deprived of the same by deceitful means by Respondent No. 2, the father, by driving her out of the house; that under proviso to Section 6(a) of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 (for short the Act ), the custody of a minor child, who has not completed the age of five years should ordinarily be with the mother recognising the universally accepted notion of maternal instinct and selfless love, who needs her affection and for which there is no adequate substitute; that the paramount interest of the child lies in giving such custody to her instead of continuing such custody with the father. The case of Respondent No. 2 on the other hand, is that the Petitioner abandoned the child and went to her parent s house and, therefore, the question of her claiming the custody does not arise at all. More so, when the child is in his custody to the exclusion of the Petitioner for nearly seven months, that is, from August 1, 1999 and any disturbance by changing the custody now is not conducive to the welfare of the child. It is also contended on behalf of