Written by: AADITI JATHAR LAKADE
3 min readOct 5, 2012 02:57 AM IST
First published on: Oct 5, 2012 at 02:57 AM IST
A 65-year-old mother of two sons approached the court seeking relief from her children,who were allegedly compelling her to stay with them on a monthly,rotational basis. The case was settled through mediation and the sons were told they could not force their mother to stay with them when she is more comfortable in an old-age home.
Kamla Chavan (65) and her late husband Gangadhar (72) have two sons — Manoj and Pramod (all names changed). While both sons are employed in the private sector,Manoj stays in Thane and Pramod in Pune. “The brothers had a pact of looking after their parents on a rotational basis . One will take care of their father for a month,while the other will take care of their mother and then exchange them the next month,” said advocate Atul Gunjal,who took over the case as a mediator in the Pune court.
While this pact went on for a few months,Gangadhar passed away at Manoj’s home in Thane,when Kamla was in Pune. As the one-month-period of Kamla staying at Pramod’s home was nearly over,Pramod and his wife took Kamla for Gangadhar’s last rites and handed her over to Manoj as it was his turn to look after her. Kamla,however,told her sons that she cannot stay in Thane as her husband had died there and that she preferred to stay in Pune.
Both Manoj and Pramod disagreed. When Pramod returned to Pune,they realised that Kamla had disappeared. A missing person complaint was lodged with the police. It was later found that Kamla was staying in an old-age home in Pune,said Gunjal.
Fearing criticism from society for keeping their mother in an old age home,the sons requested Kamla to stay with them as per the earlier pact. Kamla repeatedly refused and also filed a pre-litigation case in a Pune court seeking protection from her two sons.
She stated in her complaint that she felt it was better to stay among her peers in the old-age home rather than with her sons and daughters-in-law,who looked after her as an obligation. The case was referred for mediation and came up before the secretary of Pune District Legal Services Authority R K Malabade,who referred it to Gunjal.
“We had to convince the sons that there is no point in compelling their mother to stay with them when she feels more comfortable in the old-age home. The sons had to agree and Kamla went back to the old-age home,” Gunjal said.
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