JOIN USThe members of Children’s Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP), a non-government organisation, staged a protest demanding equal rights for fathers, here on Saturday.
Over 200 people, including children, had gathered at Town Hall for the cause on the eve of Fathers’s Day.
The members claimed that aim was to create awareness about the importance of father and children bonding, especially in divorce cases, where mothers usually get the custody of children. “More than 25,000 such cases are pending in the Bangalore Family Court. Children miss out on the father’s affection and love. The law, which grants mothers to take the custody of children, is an example of the how it favours women and biased in terms of gender,” the NGO’s press release said. Pascal Mazurier, the French consulate official, also took part in the protest and demanded justice for all those fathers whose children are in the mother’s custody.
Pascal Mazurier was reportedly framed in a false rape case by his wife, five years ago and was acquitted. However, he is not allowed to meet his children.
Kumar Jagirdar, the president of CRISP, said: “We demand the government to de-link the Women and Child Welfare Committee into separate units and
carry out the activities separately.”
“The government should prioritise child rights over women’s rights,” he said.
“A provision should be made where children of divorced parents should be able to stay in the custody of both the father and mother and not with the mother alone,” he said.