1. The preservation and enforcement by Court of a custom which imprisons Mopla womanhood behind the veil and inhibits its fair appearance in public places involves a stagnant stance which reed not be struck unless compelled by the law on the subject and the evidence in the case. I will examine both presently, since the problem raised in this revision is whether a Mopla woman of Ponnani, the plaintiff in the suit, can claim to be examined on commission at her home on the ground of gosha. But in examining and applying the law I think it proper to remind myself that the rule rule of law has a progressive edge and Courts, which within strict limits, have to essay social engineering are not the sanctuary of age-old but unwholesome customs even if they are not the refuge of the social reformer working to emancipate women in the spirit of the Constitution. In the inevitable chemistry of social change Courts certainly are not anti-catalysts.

2. The suit which is between a young man and his divorced wife, is the aftermath of a break-up of the matrimonial home. The defendant, who is the revision petitioner, was the husband of the 1st plaintiff, the suit being one for maintenance a