HC tells mom, daughter to resolve row themselves

MUMBAI: While saas-bahu spats are almost de rigueur in television soaps and real life, a mother versus daughter saga is a rarity. When one such battle involving property and assets worth tens of crores of rupees came up before the Bombay high court last Tuesday, both sides were told to "go in for counselling or mediation".

Malabar Hill resident Mallika Jhaveri (65), while claiming to dote on her only daughter Jasmine, dragged her to court after she approached the state human rights commission (SHRC).

Jasmine's counsel Amit Desai said that she was born with disabilities, but was married and had a three-year-old child. When her father Madhukant Jhaveri, a businessman with a couple of chemical factories, died in New Zealand two years ago, trouble broke out between the mother and daughter. He said the daughter had been deprived of a "very, very large part of the estate" as the father had died intestate. The assets should have come to the daughter, he said, but her mother allegedly transferred a major chunk of it to other relatives.

He said the way the mother behaved compelled the daughter to file a complaint before the SHRC.

The mother, however, in her petition had said that the manner in which an SHRC member called one of the friends to a temple and asked him to give money to the son-in-law was questionable. Her counsel Shrikant Bhat said she had set aside a significant amount in fixed deposits for Jasmine. He also said the mother had already deposited Rs 6 crore with the court.

The daughter questioned the validity of the will her mother had produced to show that her father had given everything to the widow.

A bench headed by Justice Ajay Khanwilkar was concerned that a parent and her child must fight in such a manner and observed that such issues should not be argued in court.

Displaying a compassionate side, Justice Khanwilkar added, "We owe a duty together to resolve the matter. There may be a grave misunderstanding." He said both counsels must sit together as officers of the court and try to resolve the dispute. Bhat said he was ready to start "on a clean slate" to work out a solution, to which Desai agreed.

"The real dispute between me and my daughter is with regard to the last will and testament dated May 10, 2008 of my husband. My husband died in tragic circumstances in New Zealand on November 5, 2008. He went along with my son-in-law Sanjay Shah for sea-rafting and thereafter his body was brought to us. Sanjay informed me that my husband died due to drowning," Mallika's petition stated.

Mallika, Jasmine and her husband Sanjay were in court, but the mother and daughter left without speaking to each other.

The HC has posted the matter for further hearing on January 28.