Court emphasizes the paramountcy of a child's welfare in custody disputes, affirming the mother's right to custody under statutory guidance for minors under five.

1. Master Advait Sharma, a child of three years and a half, occupies the centre stage of controversy, that is the subject matter of this Habeas Corpus Writ Petition. It about the child' s custody that his parents are entangled in a bitter battle. The child' s misfortune, circumstanced as he is, is the fallout of an estrangement of his parents, who do not seem to have got along in matrimony. This has all happened in circumstances hereinafter detailed.

2. Advait' s parents, Preeti Rai and Prashant Sharma, were married on November the 28th, 2013. Preeti Rai is an I.T. Engineer, employed with a Multinational Corporation. Prashant Sharma is a Sales Manager with a business house. He is currently serving as an Area Manager with Tropicana Juices, a company based at Ghaziabad. Advait was born of the wedlock of Preeti Rai and Prashant Sharma on 05.07.2017. Smt. Sharda Sharma and Chandra Kishore Sharma, who figure in the array of parties to this Habeas Corpus Writ Petition, are Prashant' s mother and father, and Advait' s grandparents. There is trading of allegations by the spouses, that carry varying versions to suit each about their case, why they fell apart. But, that does not matter, so far as the present proceedings are concerned. This petition has been brought by Preeti Rai, on behalf of Advait, saying that her minor son is in the unlawful custody of his father and grandparents, wherefrom he ought to be relieved and delivered to her.

3. Preeti Rai was earlier posted in the N.C.R., but she says that she was thrown out of her matrimonial home on 20.04.2019, over issues relating to dowry. She then sought a transfer to Bengaluru, with the intention to stay close to her son, because Adapt' s grandparents would often take him away to their daughter' s place in Bengaluru. However, within a few days of Preeti' s arrival in Bengaluru, Adapt was relocated to Delhi.

4. The pleadings of parties are replete with virtues claimed for themselves and demonizing the other party, including the in - laws on both sides. That again, ought not to be looked into or considered by this Court much, except to the extent that it is relevant to the issue of the minor' s welfare.

5. This petition was admitted to hearing on 09.09.2020, requiring Adapt to be produced before the Court on 16.09.2020, bearing all caution in terms of the Covid - 19 protocol. On 16.09.2020, the minor was produced and the parents also appeared. Bearing in mind the age of the couple and the minor' s welfare, that would be best secured with his parents' reunited, this Court referred the parties to the Allahabad High Court Mediation and Conciliation Center to attempt a reconciliation. On 17.09.2020, an interim settlement was arrived at between parties, carrying the terms recorded in this Court' s order of September the 18th, 2020. This Court had wis