JUDGEMENT :- This appeal arises out of proceedings initiated by the respondent herein, who is to wife of the appellant, in O. P. No. 195 of 1983, District Court, Tiruchirappali, under Sec. 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act, (Act VIII of 1890), read with S.6 (a) of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act (Act 32 of 1956), praying for the return of the custody of the minor daughter Meera alias Pincky, aged about a year and a half.

2. The circumstances under which the proceedings were instituted by the respondent herein are as under; on 10-12-1980, the respondent was married to the appellant Tiruchirappalli and thereafter the appellant and the respondent had been living as husband and wife. According to the case of the respondent, their marital life was a long story of grief, distress and sorrow on account of the ill-treatment meted out to her by the appellant right from the very Beginning. The appellant belonged to an affluent family and had also taken to drinking and other vices and any advice tendered request made by the respondent was turned down and met with even physical torture. The parents-in-law also adopted an unhelpful attitude and on several occasions, the responde