The Madhya Pradesh High Court has stayed court proceedings in a case against a couple whose children had filed a case of harassment, physical abuse and denial of access to television and mobile phones.

The couple’s children, now aged 21 and 11, had filed a complaint against their parents at Chandan Nagar Police station in 2021. The complainants alleged that their parents prohibited them from watching TV, kept them locked up in a dark room, and did not provide them with food on many occasions. A case of cruelty to child, corporal punishment of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children Act), 2015 has been filed against the parents for which proceedings are underway.

The children had also enumerated in the complaint that they ran away from their parent’s house to their aunt’s residence in June 2021. This was allegedly due to the abusive behaviour they were subjected to. Though the accused tried to forcefully take them back from the aunt’s residence, even the local police station did not permit the same owing to the children’s disapproval, and lack of assurance from other relatives.

The children said in their complaint that they ran away from their parent’s house to their aunt’s residence in June 2021 seeking protection. They added that the younger sibling suffered severe mental distress when he was just eight as the father came home in an inebriated condition and abused them while the mother would only spend time talking over the phone.

Later, when the parents forcibly tried to take the children back home from their aunt’s house, they were denied permission as relatives also feared the children’s safety and the local police intervened to support them.

The single-judge bench of Justice Vivek Rusia on Thursday allowed a stay application moved by the parents against the proceedings before Additional Sessions Court in Indore. The Court has adjourned the matter to September for further hearing. 

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