“Nowadays a section of youngsters is failing to look after the aged and ailing parents, and the number is swelling. This is not a happy development,” the High Court of Karnataka has observed while rejecting a petition filed by two persons, who challenged a direction given to them by a tribunal to pay monthly maintenance to their 84-year-old mother.
“Law, religion and custom mandate sons to look after their parents, and more particularly aged mother. Smrutikaras say: ‘rakshanti sthavire putra …’ , nearly meaning that it is the duty of son to look after his mother who is in the evening of her life,” the court said.
“...To neglect the parents, particularly in their old age, when they become weak and dependent and to cause anguish, is a heinous act for which there is no atonement available,” the court while translating the meaning of a sloka from Brahmanda Purana.
