NGO to fight for grandparents’ rights

NAGPUR: In an age where parents hardly have time to interact with their kids, grandparents become a big support system. However, grandparents these days are bearing the brunt of breaking up of marriages and separation of families as they don’t get to spend as much time as they would like with their grandchildren. Some of them even feel that the law has markedly ignored them.
Having received several such complaints in this regard, the grandparents’ wing of NGO Child Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP) has decided to start an awareness campaign on the need for a law to safeguard grandparents’ rights to be drafted in the country. They also plan to get a memorandum signed by thousands of grandparents, who are victims of such unfortunate circumstances, addressed to PM Modi to take immediate steps to safeguard their interests.
“Our organization has received several complaints from senior citizens about how they are being denied access to their grandchildren as their children are separated or involved in marital discord. This is unfair to both the children and the grandparents who are often the only means to carry forward the traditions and customs of our rich family heritage,” said Sudha Rajashekar, co-ordinator of the signature campaign and the president of the grandparents’ wing. She added that from the point of view of the children, too, it was a fundamental right to be able to gain from the experiences and life lessons of their grandparents.
“In most cases, it is the paternal side of the family that is kept away from the children. In a judgment passed in 2008, the Supreme Court had observed that ‘the children should also not be alienated from the company and affection of their father or paternal grand-parents’. We agree and believe that both sets of grandparents must be able to spend enough time with kids,” said CRISP founder-president Kumar Jahgirdar.
RIGHTS DEMANDED
* Grant visitation rights to grandparents, too, in case of children with separated or divorced parents
* In case of grandparents being unable to commute, kids should be permitted to travel to their place to meet
* In case both parents are working, courts must give priority to grandparents as caretakers rather than professional services of nannies or crèches
* Parents who use children as pawns to deprive grandparents access should be punished as elder abuse and a separate helpline should be created to help distressed grandparents
* If possible, the family court should make an interim order to grant visitation rights to child’s father or mother on behalf of the grandparent to respect their age and seniority.
* Create a law to protect the rights of grandparents to be with their grandchildren on a regular basis