RAWALPINDI, April 25: Distressed mothers are going to courts in ever greater numbers for the recovery of their children from estranged husbands and in-laws, Dawn has learnt.

Data obtained from the Rawalpindi district courts reveals that almost every day one application arrives, invoking the courts’ power to issue directions of the nature of a habeas corpus under Section 491 of Criminal Procedure Code.

Legal circles feel the trend heralds a social change as women are rising up to fight for the custody of their children from domineering males.

Of the 349 applications received under Section 491 last year, 312 were filed by mothers. In the first four months of 2008, over 100 women abandoned by their husbands have sought recovery of their children through court’s bailiff.

In most of the cases, the mother asserts that the husband threw her out and denied her their minor children forcibly. Under the law, children under seven years of age can be recovered only through the court bailiff.

Often the sought-after children are recovered from the given address and are handed over to the claimant mothers temporarily as long as court decided the guardianship of the child, said a court official who is often appointed a bailiff.

All children depend on their mother for nourishment and comfort but since minors’ dependence on her is absolute the court gives them in the care of the mother till it decides the custody issue, said Samina Jadoon, a prominent female lawyer and social worker.

She said till three years ago the high court used to be the only place to seek the recovery of an illegally confined person. But since then the power has been delegated to the district and sessions judge too, making it easier and cheaper for distressed mothers to seek the custody of their minor children.