Order

B.S.A. Swamy, J.— The petiti-oner Syed Liaquat Hussain, son of Syed Mohd. Yahiya filed this Writ of Habeas Corpus seeking custody of his minor boy aged about 5 months from his in laws by contending that after the death of his wife he being the natural guardian of the son he is entitled to have the custody of the child. In support of his contention Mr. Md. Sherrif, the learned counsel for the petitioner vehemently contended that the Court cannot pass any orders in contravention of the tenets of the Mohammedan law and he placed strong reliance on Para 357 of the Mulla’s Principles of Moha-mmedan Law which is an authen-ticated book on personal laws of the Muslims. It is necessary to extract para 357 of the book, which reads

as under:

357. Right of father and paternal male relations to custody of boy over seven and of girl who has attained puberty:— The father is entitled to the custody of a boy over seven years of  age and of an unmarried girl who has attained puberty. Failing the father, the custody belongs to the paternal relations in the order given in Section 355 above, and subject to the proviso to that Section. (See paragraph 355 and the case noted there).

If there be none