Should Kids be Tortured as Chattels by Fighting Parents?

  •   Sat, Apr 29 2023
  •   By John B Monteiro

April 29, 2023

“Sally is my wife, but not my Chattel.” – John Bercow (b.1963). Member/Speaker of British Parliament.

“I will be master of what is my own;
She is my goods, my chattels, she is my house,
My household stuff, my field, my barn,
My horse, my ox, my ass, my anything;
And here she stands, touch her whoever dare.”

In Taming the Shrew - William Shakespeare (1564- 1616), renowned English poet and playwright.

If you think that we have progressed from Shakespeare to Bercow, quoted above, now there are instances of man and women turning their children into chattels as reflected in the report by Swati Deshpande of TNN and published in TOI (25/4/23) and excerpted here.

Child is not chattel, parents expected to give preference to child's welfare over own rights: Bombay HC

“Children cannot be treated as chattel or property where the parents would have absolute rights over the destiny and life of their children,’’ said the Bombay High Court, observing that the paramount consideration is the welfare of the child and not the legal rights of the parents. A bench of Justice RD Dhanuka and Justice Gauri Godse on April 11, 2023 held it necessary "to strike a balance" in deciding between a parent’s right and a child’s right, as the HC directed that both parents are "expected to give preference to the welfare of the child over their own rights."

The HC was pronouncing a mechanism for access of minor child to a father in India, as directed by a family court, and said, “This is an unfortunate case where due to a bitterly fought matrimonial dispute between the parents, the children have suffered." The HC said, “In our country, matrimonial disputes constitute the most bitterly fought adversarial litigation. A stage comes when warring couples stop seeing reasons. The children are treated as chattel. In such cases, the role of the Court becomes crucial. The Court is required to exercise parens patriae (guardian of child) jurisdiction and compel the parties to do something which is in the best interest of the child."

The child and mother are residing abroad and the father was seeking access during summer holidays between June 5 and August 15, 2023 and for orders to the mother to bring the child to India to interact with elder siblings too. The child, a mid teen, is required to be treated as an individual and with respect, said the court. The child in an interaction with court last year was unwilling to meet the father though holding no grudge but wanted to meet elder siblings.

The HC said, it was in the child’s interest to have company of both parents.

“Due to the bitterly fought litigation between the parents," the court said, the child was deprived of father’s and siblings’ company adding, "For the healthy growth of a child, it is necessary that a child has the company of both his parents as well as his siblings."

The subject is open to many views. What are yours? Your response is welcome in the format given below (Pl scroll down a bit). Once again, welcome to reason.

 

 

Also read:
 

 

 
By John B Monteiro
To submit your article / poem / short story to Daijiworld, please email it to news@daijiworld.com mentioning 'Article/poem submission for daijiworld' in the subject line. Please note the following:

  • The article / poem / short story should be original and previously unpublished in other websites except in the personal blog of the author. We will cross-check the originality of the article, and if found to be copied from another source in whole or in parts without appropriate acknowledgment, the submission will be rejected.
  • The author of the poem / article / short story should include a brief self-introduction limited to 500 characters and his/her recent picture (optional). Pictures relevant to the article may also be sent (optional), provided they are not bound by copyright. Travelogues should be sent along with relevant pictures not sourced from the Internet. Travelogues without relevant pictures will be rejected.
  • In case of a short story / article, the write-up should be at least one-and-a-half pages in word document in Times New Roman font 12 (or, about 700-800 words). Contributors are requested to keep their write-ups limited to a maximum of four pages. Longer write-ups may be sent in parts to publish in installments. Each installment should be sent within a week of the previous installment. A single poem sent for publication should be at least 3/4th of a page in length. Multiple short poems may be submitted for single publication.
  • All submissions should be in Microsoft Word format or text file. Pictures should not be larger than 1000 pixels in width, and of good resolution. Pictures should be attached separately in the mail and may be numbered if the author wants them to be placed in order.
  • Submission of the article / poem / short story does not automatically entail that it would be published. Daijiworld editors will examine each submission and decide on its acceptance/rejection purely based on merit.
  • Daijiworld reserves the right to edit the submission if necessary for grammar and spelling, without compromising on the author's tone and message.
  • Daijiworld reserves the right to reject submissions without prior notice. Mails/calls on the status of the submission will not be entertained. Contributors are requested to be patient.
  • The article / poem / short story should not be targeted directly or indirectly at any individual/group/community. Daijiworld will not assume responsibility for factual errors in the submission.
  • Once accepted, the article / poem / short story will be published as and when we have space. Publication may take up to four weeks from the date of submission of the write-up, depending on the number of submissions we receive. No author will be published twice in succession or twice within a fortnight.
  • Time-bound articles (example, on Mother's Day) should be sent at least a week in advance. Please specify the occasion as well as the date on which you would like it published while sending the write-up.

Leave a Comment

Title: Should Kids be Tortured as Chattels by Fighting Parents?



You have 2000 characters left.

Disclaimer:

Please write your correct name and email address. Kindly do not post any personal, abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful or similar comments. Daijiworld.com will not be responsible for any defamatory message posted under this article.

Please note that sending false messages to insult, defame, intimidate, mislead or deceive people or to intentionally cause public disorder is punishable under law. It is obligatory on Daijiworld to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments, to the authority concerned upon request.

Hence, sending offensive comments using daijiworld will be purely at your own risk, and in no way will Daijiworld.com be held responsible.