The Bombay High Court bench of Justices Shahrukh Kathawalla and Surendra Tawade on Thursday said that parents must stop silently suffering the torture meted out to them by their children and should instead start proclaiming in public about the misdeeds of their child. The bench accordingly, ordered a South Mumbai-based "abusive" son to vacate his father's house located at Marine Drive.
The bench was seized with a plea filed by Mansoor Jaliwala (85) seeking reliefs against his 50-year-old son Ayaz, who had been torturing him and his now deceased wife since last one decade. The father claimed that his son often abused him and even manhandled him on several occasions.
Jaliwala pointed out how Ayaz slapped his (Mansoor's) wife for meeting her aunt. When he tried to intervene, his son assaulted him and even tore off his kurta. The octogenarian father cited several such instances.
However, Ayaz claimed that he never abused his parents. He alleged that his father was instigated by his sister, who wants to usurp the flat in South Mumbai and other properties. He claimed that he took proper care of his father and late mother. He called his father “a compulsive liar, schizophrenic and a narcissist.”
Taking exception to Aayaz’s comments, the judges said, "We find substance in the contention of the father that he and his late wife did not confront Ayaz as they could not gather the courage to do so, and report the ill-treatment meted out to them by him to the appropriate authorities fearing serious repercussions, and social stigma.” "It is not unknown that parents out of fear of harming their family name and the future and reputation of their erring child / children prefer to suffer in silence, rather than expose the ill-treatment meted out to them by their children, until they cannot bear it any further. In fact, as the parent/s grow older, they find it difficult, rather impossible, to bear such conduct, leaving them with no alternative but as a last resort to knock on the doors of the Courts to seek respite, in the twilight years of their life," the judges noted.
The bench further said that parents normally do not wish to make public all the torture. "However, when a child / children proclaim that their parents have not done anything for them and in fact proceed to describe their parent/s in a nasty / uncalled for manner, like Ayaz calling his father a 'compulsive liar who is also a schizophrenic and has a narcissist attitude', that parent/s are compelled to spell out all that they have done for their child / children, in order to enable them to achieve major milestones in their life / lives," the bench said.
The judges further noted various other instances such as Ayaz abusing his parents for watching TV with high volume, using vulgar language for his father and sister when they suggested he isolate himself since he was unwell.
"According to us, Ayaz crossed all the limits when he made accusations against the father with regard to his sanity even before this Court. We, after talking to Mansoor, are convinced that he is a matured person with a sound mind, who has no motive to keep Ayaz out of the said flat, except for his desire to spend the twilight days of his life peacefully, without being harassed by his only son," the judges noted, adding that his father has offered to pay Rs 25 lakh to him so that he can arrange for a rental flat despite his bad behaviour. "Maintenance of a senior citizen has been held by our Courts to include not just right to live, but the right to live with dignity and in an atmosphere of safety and security," the judges said while ordering Ayaz to leave the house.
