HYDERABAD: It has been more than a month that ICFAI professor Guruprasad killed his children before killing himself over a family feud with his wife Suhasini.
While a lot has been said and done about his gruesome act, the Child Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP), an NGO working on the effects of parental alienation of children due to divorce and separation of married couples has blamed the judicial system for the same.
“We have inquired about him at his workplace and found that he was a decent person. However, he was denied the custody of his children. Also, a number of cases were slapped against him,” said Vishwanath, the president of CRISP (Hyderabad chapter).
“Although we condemn whatever he did, we feel that there are many loopholes in the judicial system correcting which, the incident could have been avoided. Giving equal custody to both the parents should be made mandatory,” he added.
While the concept of shared parenting after the separation might seem a little too advanced for a developing country like India, it is quite common in developed countries like the United States.
However, making a step closer to the development, the Law Commission of India has agreed to work on this act, as per the petition filed by CRISP.
“In the present case scenario, the court allows the father to meet the child only once a week , making him a mere visitor. Also, the father does not get any kind of access to information relating to child’s education or health, unless the mother shares it with him,” explained Kumar Jahgiridhar, president CRISP (National Chapter).
“We have written to the Law Commission and they asked us four weeks time and during the period, they will be collecting the opinions on implementing the Act in the country,” Jahgiridhar informed.
Renowned chef Sanjay Thumma, founder of vahrevah.com, has been associated with CRISP for quite some time, opined the act is going to benefit the children. “We are not here to fight for men or women. In fact, we have seen many cases where the women were denied to see their children and we condemn that as well,” he said.