The Hindu Business Line : Grandparents bearing brunt of divorces

BANGALORE: “How long can sweetened lollipops replace the need for a father?” laments a 60-year-old woman whose little granddaughter, now in another part of the city with her mother, is handed out the candy every time she asks about her father, who is fig hting a custody battle for the child.

Neha is among the scores of grandparents questioning the legality of the system whereby long drawn-out custody cases between spouses were taking a toll on their patience by subjecting them to mental trauma of waiting for the hearings to end and be with t heir grandchildren.

Neha, who is part of Child Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP), a newly formed organisation that demands equal right of parenting in divorced cases, says the bitter fight between spouses often leaves grandparents and children as innocent victi ms for little or no fault of theirs.

“My daughter-in-law decided one day to walk out from the house but in the process we have been denied access to the grandchild. What is our fault? We have to wait till our son gains the right to see his children,” she sobs.

The law generally favours mothers in cases of custody battles as well as during the period of the cases when interim custody is given to the mother. The group of paternal grandparents are often left with fighting loneliness and depression after their tie s with their grandchildren are suddenly severed, said Kumar Jahgirdar, President of CRISP.

Couples walking out of marriage are common but what is becoming even more common is that the animosity is often carried to the level of ensuring that ties with grandparents are also severed, another CRISP activist says. - PTI

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