Bangalore: In an unprecedented display of solidarity for fathers, Bangalore citizens aired their bold views. On the eve of Father’s Day i.e. 19^thJune, 2010 Bangalore Mirror had carried an article titled – “Oh my sleeping child” which also carried a poll with it.

The poll read,

“Should society be sensitized to the plight of dads who have no access to their kids?”

The result of the poll was a sweeping 100% response in favor of the sensitization. All those who participated in the poll felt such a sensitization was the need of the hour.

By Rajeev Singh, ET Bureau,

As usual, the doctor appeared quite confident of his success. And why wouldn’t he? One of the perks that came with a professional life that boasted of successfully handling thousands of such ‘critical’ cases over the last 10 years or more was confidence. 
Only the place and predicament were different this time. Standing firmly in the witness box, he was used to the public gaze that never unnerved him. But there was somebody sitting in the front row of the room, constantly staring at the him; quite discomforting for him. 

Finally, the judge delivers the verdict. The doctor has lost the case. Standing stunned for a few minutes, he suddenly turns into a picture of contrast. 

Confidence gave way to anxiety; hands, which were always firm in wielding the scalpel, started trembling; eyes, which had never exhibited emotions, became moist. He collapses and breaks down in tears. 

The ‘somebody’ sitting in the front row seat was his daughter. Dr Anand Parekh had not met Shruti for a year, and had been fighting for her custody since last six years. 

Now, he has lost all—his daughter as well as interest in life. While the world will celebrate Father’s Day this Sunday, for many like Dr Parekh it will be a day to mourn. “What’s the point in being a father when you are deprived of your child,” said a devastated Dr Parekh. “Just because I didn’t give birth to her, doesn’t mean I can’t bring her up properly. A father can also be a mother.” 

The Supreme Court will soon lay down guidelines on deciding child custody cases between non resident Indian parents. V. Kumara Swamy explains how the legal lacuna is affecting the lives of parents and children alike

Seven-year-old Adit-ya Chandran and his mother are hiding somewhere in India. If the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as per a recent Supreme Court order, manages to trace Aditya, he will be handed over to his US-based father.

“My son has not gone to school for the last two-and-a-half years. He has been forced to live like a fugitive by his mother in violation of court orders both in the US and India,” says Dr V. Ravi Chandran, a scientist.

New Delhi: "Don't punish my child, punish me; don't drag him, drag me," a wailing India-born pharmaceutical scientist from the US pleaded as heavily armed CBI sleuths pushed his seven-year-old son inside a court room of the Supreme Court. The sleuths had tracked down the son and his mother to Chennai last week.

Dr V Ravi Chandran has been in India for the past two years, looking for his US-born son Aditya. Chandran's estranged wife Vijayshree Voora moved Aditya to India against an American family court order. The court had also allowed the child's father his joint custody.

Police statistics show that child abuse has a new face: drunken mothers. Police say they get around 400 reports of domestic violence against children each year; these days around two-thirds of the cases point to intoxicated mothers.

The recession has apparently had a lot to do with the spike in the number of inebriated women who turn abusive.

"The typical case is a single mother who has an alcohol problem and who's become exhausted by work," explains Police Sergeant Pekka Hätönen, who's in charge of the child abuse unit at the Helsinki Itäkeskus police department.

Mothers paid by the state to have babies with men they barely know. What HAVE we done to the British family?

It's the most destructive crisis of our age - a generation of violent, illiterate, lawless young men living outside civilised society.

The Mail asked a leading investigative journalist to spend nine months exploring their world.

Here, in the second part of a fascinating series, she reveals her chilling findings - and exposes how the benefit system is breeding boys condemned to a life of crime and despair because they've never known the benefit of a loving family. . .

Bangalore: “When I was small, I thought you were simply great. And when I grew up, I knew I was always right as a puppy!” says a dalmation looking up at its dad. This was on a card a teenager finally bought for Father’s Day. He is one of the many sons who belong to the new creed that does not say ‘I don’t need a special day to honour my dad’.

The Western trend has surely caught up with Namma Bengaluru. While sending flowers and cakes home is the trend among outstation sons and daughters, the ones at home prefer to go out for a dinner and surprise their father with gifts. Online booking centres and gift shops in the city have witnessed heightened activity the past couple of days.

“We get orders from abroad and other Indian states. Usually the price range of gifts we sell is from Rs 500 to Rs 800,” said Ravi Tiwari of Orchidsnroses. They have special Fathers’ Day kits, comprising laptops as well as gulab jamuns. Customized packages are also available.

Your identity follows a standard format in India: son or daughter of Mr X. That is how you know one Sunita or Ram is different from another. But what if you don't want to put in your father's name or be identified solely by your family name? Should you be denied all official documents? Shouldn't your mother's name be sufficient to establish your identity?

Unfortunately, that is not the case, as illustrated by the recent case of a 19-year-old Mumbai girl, who was denied a passport because she refused to write her biological father's name on the application form. The man had not communicated with his daughter since the day she was born and the girl thought it justified to leave his name out. Read More Even though her mother raised her and the girl still lives with her, the courts have said she can be granted a passport if she lists her foster father as her father and fills in the application form accordingly.

Mothers in India clearly have a long way to go to achieve legal gender equality.

PANJIM, MAY 18: This Christmas,  10-year-old Rico will have lunch with his mother and dinner with his father. But the lunch arrangement on Christmas day will be altered every subsequent year.

On his mother’s birthday, he will be with her and on his  father’s birthday, he’ll stay with his father.

Likewise, his birthday will be celebrated alternately by the mother and the father every alternate year.

On school days he will be with his mother from Monday to Friday and be with his father every alternate weekend.

The programme for Ryan has been chalked  out  by the Bombay High Court  at Goa while settling the issue of his custody between warring parents.

Chandigarh: Child custody case pending in the subordinate courts of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh for over six months will now be decided within three months.

Taking cognizance of long delays, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has also empowered the district judges to deal with dereliction, if any, on part of the judicial officer in doing so. The registrar (vigilance), Punjab and Haryana, have been appointed nodal officer for supervising the entire exercise.

Though the exact number of such cases is not immediately known, some of the cases have been pending for over a decade. Among the oldest is a case pending since 1998 in the guardian court in Amritsar.