An Indian couple from Uttarakhand filed a lawsuit against their son and his wife on the grounds of “mental harassment” for not giving them a grandchild.
Sanjeev Prasad, 61, and his wife Sadhana, 57, are demanding their son produce a grandchild within a year or otherwise compensate them with 50 million rupees (approximately $675,000).
Prasad, a retired government officer, said that the sum is the total amount of money he has spent on his now-35-year-old son, Shrey Sagar. The bill includes Sagar’s $65,000 pilot training course in the U.S. in 2006, a luxury car worth $80,000, his wedding at a five-star hotel and a honeymoon in Thailand six years ago.
“We want a grandson or a granddaughter within a year or compensation, because I have spent my life’s earnings on my son’s education,” Prasad told reporters on Thursday. “The main issue is that at this age we need a grandchild, but these people (my son and daughter-in-law) have an attitude that they don’t think about us.”
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“We got him married in the hope we would have the pleasure of becoming grandparents,” he added. “It has been six years since their marriage. It feels as if despite having everything, we have nothing. We are not getting love and affection from where we want it the most. I feel very unlucky.”
While Sagar is currently a pilot, Prasad also noted his son’s return to India in 2007 when he lost his job.
“He returned to India in 2007 due to the economic recession abroad,” he told the Times of India. “He had lost his job and could not find another for over two years. I supported him financially during this period as well.”
Prasad said his son and his wife, Shubhangi Sinha, who live separately due to work, do not live with them. This situation, he says, has caused the parents “immense pain” and has “added to (their) sufferings.”
Arvind Kumar Srivastava, the couple’s lawyer, filed their plea last Saturday in Haridwar. The case will be heard by the court on May 17.
“They have demanded the money because of mental cruelty,” Srivastava told The National. “It is a dream of every parent to become a grandparent. They had been waiting for years to become grandparents. They had been trying to convince the son and his wife, but they paid no heed to their demands. They are heartbroken that they will die without seeing their grandchild.”
Featured Image via @ANINewsUP
