India, April 20 -- The Allahabad High Court has dismissed as non-maintainable a habeas corpus petition moved by a woman seeking custody of her minor children from her estranged husband, observing that a father is a natural guardian of a Hindu minor and cannot be said to illegally detain a child even if he forcibly takes custody unless such an act is in violation of court order.

The petitioner's mother had moved to court alleging that her estranged husband forcibly took away their two minor children at gunpoint in 2022 and had kept them under illegal detention since then.

Dismissing the petition, Justice Anil Kumar-X, relying on the Supreme Court's judgment in Tejaswini Gaud and others vs Shekhar Jagdish Prasad Tewari and others, observe...