MUMBAI:
The Kalyan magistrate's court recently ordered a man to pay Rs 5 lakh as maintenance to his parents so that they could buy a house. An elderly couple from Dombivli abandoned by their son, won a reprieve from the Kalyan magistrate's court, which ordered him to pay his parents Rs 5 lakh as maintenance so that they could buy a house.
Hearing an application filed by Ashok Panchal (55) and his wife Archana, alleging that their son, Vinayak, was neglecting them and had failed to maintain them, judicial magistrate first class N R Kora also asked Vinayak to drop all charges that he and his wife had filed against them.
Under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc), a man's spouse or elderly parents can file a plea of neglect. The court has powers to direct the man to pay maintenance to his "neglected" wife or parents.
Ashok used to live with his wife and two sons, Vinayak and Vikas, in Sadguru Kripa society in Dombivli. Their flat in Sadguru Kripa society was in Vinayak's name. Vikas is mentally challenged. When Ashok retired from his job, he along with Archana and Vikas moved to Kankavali in Sindhudurg.
The elderly couple had opposed Vinayak's marriage to Megha, a divorcee, but later relented and had subsequently accepted her. According to Ashok's lawyer, Pradeep Bawaskar, Megha and Vinayak tried to evict them from their flat. First, Megha filed a case under the Domestic Violence Act. Vinayak sought his parent's eviction from the house alleging harassment.
Megha filed another case at the Vishnu Nagar police station against her in-laws and got them detained for 24 hours.
Even as the cases were pending, Vinayak sold off the Dombivli flat without informing his parents in March 2011. A political worker MNS corporator Manik Mahatre helped the elderly couple to approach the court seeking maintenance under section 125 of the CrPc.
"During the hearing, we submitted proof that the criminal cases were deliberately filed with a view to evict Ashok and Archana from the house," said Bawaskar.
Vinayak made the payment last week. "The money has enabled us to purchase a room in a chawl in the Kumbharpada area and now we are living with our younger son. At least now we have the safety of a shelter," Ashok said.
