Hyderabad: Studies conducted by multiple organisations working for child rights across the globe have revealed that children deprived of father’s care are five times more likely to commit suicide, nine times more likely to drop out of high school, 20 times more likely to end up in prison or become drug addicts and 32 times more likely to run away from home.
Fathers and harassed husbands from the city complained that in more than 70 per cent of cases, they were being separated from their children under false allegations.
One such father, Ramesh Reddy, an IT employee, gets to see his son just once in three months since he separated from his wife. “I never wanted a situation wherein my son had to chose between his parents. As we (wife and I) had differences, we separated, but why should the child pay for it?” he asked.
Chef Sanjay Thumma is also struggling to see his child. “We want children to have access to both parents. We want a Bill where guidelines are given for shared parenting. Both parents must be given access to the children, as only then they will grow up normally,” said Mr Thumma.
Saying that the government should declare parental alienation as a crime and prosecute violating parents, Kumar Jagirdar of the Children’s Rights Initiative For Shared Parenting said, “This will prevent children from becoming pawns in the hands of custodial parents who try to alienate the non-custodial parent.”
