Child Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP), a Bangalore NGO fighting against parental alienation of children due to single-parent families because of divorce or separation, will observe a dharna on Father's Day on June 16 here demanding reforms in family laws.
Members of the organisation will assemble near Town Hall between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. highlighting grievances of fathers who are deprived of access to their children, and of children to their fathers, said Kumar V. Jahagirdar of CRISP.
‘On behalf of children'
He told presspersons here on Thursday that the dharna is on behalf of children, who have been denied their rights to be connected to biological parents.
Fathers' role
Mr. Jahagirdar said the role of father has become all the more important in the present-day context, particularly when both parents work. On the other hand, the divorce rate, especially among the urban educated class, is rising every year.
More than 20,000 divorce cases are pending in family courts in Bangalore alone, he said.
Concerned
CRISP, he said, is concerned by the growing numbers of custody battles over children, which impacts the children.
Mr. Jahagirdar said his organisation was pushing for reforms in family laws such as granting of immediate and equal child access to separated parents and making co-parenting mandatory within 30 days from the date of filing a case for divorce; all cases related to custody of child/ children should be disposed of within six months of application; and punishment for misuse of laws, particularly related to dowry harassment and domestic violence.
