JUDGMENT :

1. The mother and the grand-mother of a female child, aged about five years, have approached this Court seeking a writ of habeas corpus to rescue and produce the child and to hand over her custody to them.

2. Shorn of unnecessary details, the facts are that the petitioner no.1 married the respondent no.5 on 6th September, 2015. They were blessed with a female child on 2nd July, 2017. Subsequent thereto, there was a matrimonial dispute between them and as such, the petitioner no.1 started residing separately along with the child at her own house at 30/F, Hara Mohan Ghosh Lane, Police Station – Beliaghata, Kolkata – 700 085 on and from the month of January, 2021. The respondent no.5 used to occasionally meet the child at the residence of the petitioner no.1. On 6th September, 2022, the respondent no.5 took the child to the school stating that he would drop her back in the evening. However, as the child was not returned, the petitioner no.1 went to the residence of the respondent no.5 at F/3/6, Karunamoyee Housing Estate, Salt Lake, Sector – II, Police Station – Bidhannagar (East), Kolkata – 700 097 to bring her back but the respondent no.5 denied to hand over the child. Prio