Alarmed by their son’s unwillingness to have children, an Indian couple has dragged their son to court demanding that he and his wife produce either a grandchild within a year or cough up almost $650,000.
The troubled couple, Sanjeev and Sadhana Prasad averred that they exhausted their savings raising and educating their pilot son and paying for a lavish wedding. After so much investment on him, they now want payback.The couple, in their petition filed with a court in Haridwar, said “My son has been married for six years but they are still not planning a baby. At least if we have a grandchild to spend time with, our pain will become bearable”.
Local reports have it that the compensation they are demanding — 50 million rupees — includes the cost of a wedding reception in a five-star hotel, a luxury car worth $80,000 and paying for the couple’s honeymoon abroad.
It was also reported that the couple forked out $65,000 to get their son trained as a pilot in the United States only for him to return to India unemployed.
In their petition, they said, “We also had to take a loan to build our house and now we are going through a lot of financial hardships. Mentally too we are quite disturbed because we are living alone”.
Arvind Kumar, who is the couple’s lawyer, said the petition will be taken up for hearing by the court in northern India on May 17.
It is imperative to note that India has a strong joint family system with many generations including grandparents, nephews, aunts and uncles often living in the same household.
But, reports have it that in recent years the trend has shifted, with young couples preferring to move away from their parents or siblings, and wives — such as in this case — opting to work rather than focus on having children and staying at home.
