You don't need a big house but a big heart to look after your mother, rules Supreme Court - Here's what happened!

Judges have raised a barrage of questions from someone who went to the Supreme Court saying there was not enough space to take care of the mother.

Realising that the mother was suffering from advanced dementia, the Court restrained any further transaction with regard to her movable or immovable property and directed the son to respond by Tuesday on allowing the daughters to look after the health and medical needs of the mother.

A bench of Justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant, which heard the matter on Friday, said, “Let the daughters take charge of the mother. We will give you (son) access too.” The son, represented by advocate Soayib Qureshi told the Court that the daughters are living with their families and will not have enough space to keep his mother.

The bench replied, “The question is not how big an area you have but how big a heart you have to look after your mother.”

The daughters – Pushpa Tiwary and Gayatri Kumar had filed a habeas corpus petition in March this year claiming that their mother, who was admitted in February at the Capital’s Ganga Ram hospital, was moved to an undisclosed location by their brother who was not allowing them access to their mother, 89-year old Vaidehi Singh. After a notice was issued by the Court, the mother was traced to the son’s house in Muzaffarpur in Bihar. The Court had since allowed the daughters to have full access to their mother.

On April 18, the Court ordered the Medanta Hospital at Patna to constitute a medical board for examining the octogenarian. The report submitted to the Court on April 28 showed that Vaidehi Singh suffered from advanced dementia and was found to have “no comprehension either on verbal or on physical cues”.

The Court noted with serious concern that despite such “serious physical and mental condition of the mother”, the son proceeded to deal in her properties by seeking her presence as a confirming party to the execution of sale deeds. The bench said, “This is the tragedy of senior citizens in our country. She has serious dementia you are selling all her properties. You (son) took her to the Collector’s office to get her thumb impression done. We will stall all further dealings with regard to her properties.”

The daughters, represented by senior advocate Priya Hingorani along with advocates Manish Kumar Saran and Satya Prakash Sharan said, “The petitioners (daughters) have looked after the mother till 2019 until the lockdown intervened in March 2020. They are ready and willing to look after her and to provide her either hospital or home care as may be advised by the doctors.”

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