Dumped kids take parents to court

HOWRAH: A teenaged brother and sister in Howrah's Uluberia have won a maintenance suit against their parents who separated, remarried and dumped them. The father has been ordered to give them a monthly allowance of Rs 2,500 each and to bear the wedding expenses of the girl.
Karishma (15) and Javeduddin, a year younger, are now looking for their mother to put her in the dock as well.The kids had the perfect world till their pre-teen years. Parents Kutubu-ddin and Jahanara had married for love in 1990 and it was a happy family. Karishma turned out to be a bright student and was sent to a boarding school. Javed studied in a local school.
Without warning, their world fell apart in April 2006. Kutubuddin and Jahanara walked out on each other — and the kids, then aged 11 and 12. Kutubuddin, who owns a zari factory and a shop, remarried. So did Jahanara. No one thought about the children.
Left alone, Karishma and Javed walked the few kilometres to maternal grandfather Golam Qader's house and pleaded for shelter. The elderly man took them in, but his savings ran out by early 2008. Soon, the kids were thrown out of school. With nowhere else to go, the children called on father Kutubuddin, who thrashed them up and drove them away.
The kids did not know where their mother had gone after remarrying. Crying all the way back from Kutubuddin's house, they passed by Uluberia court and stopped. Karishma knew this was where everyone got justice, so she walked in, her brother in tow. Lawyer Arif Hasan saw the weeping kids and agreed to take up their case, took them to his home and came back to file a case against the parents.
The maintenance hearing involving Karishma and Javeduddin against their parents lasted over a year. On Thursday, the court finally directed father Kutubuddin to submit Rs 80,000 for the children immediately and start paying Rs 5,000 a month for their education. This arrangement will continue till Karishma's marriage and till Javed turns a major.
Karishma has no qualms for moving court against her parents. "The court order has come as a lease of life. Our parents had shirked their responsibilities. We have compelled them to do their duty," she said. "Once they become major, the children can lawfully ask their father for shelter. They can also approach their mother for compensation," said Arif Hasan.