NGOs favouring shared parenting rights to hold protests

Ahead of Father's Day, men's rights groups are set to hold nation wide protests to demand shared parenting rights of children separated in divorce, activists said Friday.

"We demand equal (child) access to both the separated parents and to make co-parenting mandatory under the Guardian and Wards Act," Children's Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP) founder-president Kumar V. Jahgirdar told IANS.

He said: "The other demands include holding evening courts to speed up justice".

Jahgirdar said CRISP's Bangalore chapter would hold the protest Saturday, while its chapters in Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Lucknow, Nagpur, Mumbai and Chandigarh will stage rallies on Father's Day (Sunday).

He said, "A memorandum would be submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw IRBM (Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage) law proposed under the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, which is pending in the Lok Sabha."

"IRBM is women-centric and there is no provision for fathers to take custody of children. It's not in welfare of both men and children and the children deserve affection of both the parents," he added.

CRISP member Mandeep Singh, whose separation case is pending in a court in Chandigarh, said: "I am not able to meet my son for more than three years despite court's intervention. Everybody should have equal access. After all he is my biological child."

President of NGO Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) Rajesh Vakharia, who is based in Nagpur, said: "Many husbands face threats of false cases like dowry harassment, domestic violence and child molestation for paying huge amounts of money in the shape of 'settlement money' to their estranged wives".

"We also demand a provision of punishment for those who misuse such laws," he added.