Uttarakhand: Couple sue son & bahu for ‘depriving them of grand kid’

DEHRADUN: A retired senior BHEL officer in Haridwar and his wife have sued their Guwahati-based pilot son and Noida-based working daughter-in-law on grounds of “mental harassment” after they “failed to give them a grandchild, even after six years of marriage”. The elderly couple demanded a grandchild “within a year” or Rs 5 crore, which they claimed they spent on their son’s “upbringing and education”.
This amount also includes the cost incurred on the son’s wedding at a five-star hotel, a luxury car gifted to him worth Rs 60 lakh, and money spent on his honeymoon abroad, the couple's counsel Arvind Srivastava said.The petition was admitted by a local court in Haridwar on Saturday and is listed for hearing on May 15.
“I have only one son. I spent all my savings on his upbringing and education. I sent him to the US in 2006 for a pilot training course. I spent over Rs 50 lakh for the same. He returned to India in 2007 due to the economic recession abroad. He had lost his job and could not find another for over two years. I supported him financially during this period as well,” said the father, 61.
'Couple's son, wife may be served notice'
He added, "He (the son) soon got a job at a private airline as a pilot, after which we decided to get him married as my wife, 57, often keeps unwell. We finally got him married in 2016 with the hope that we would get us a grandchild to play with in our retirement age. However, almost six years have passed and there is no child. We are facing immense mental harassment."
The father told TOI: "My son and daughter-in-law are living in two separate cities because of their jobs, causing us immense pain. We treated our daughter-in-law like our own daughter. Despite that, she seldom stays with us, adding to our sufferings. We even told her that if she is worried about taking care of the child due to her job, she could give the baby to us so that we could look after his upbringing. We are hardly left with any money because we spent everything on our son." TOI was unable to contact the son.
Counsel Srivastava claimed the case was the "first-of-its-kind in Uttarakhand and probably the country." He said, "From the parents' point of view, their demand is justified. Their expectations are not wrong. On the day of the hearing, as per the legal procedure, a report on the case would be asked for from the probation officer, following which a notice will be served to the couple's son and daughter-in-law, seeking their reply before the court."