A couple in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand are suing their only son and his wife for not giving them a grandchild after six years of marriage.
Sanjeev and Sadhana Prasad, 61 and 57, say they used up their savings raising their son, paying for his pilot’s training as well as a lavish wedding.
They are demanding compensation worth nearly $650,000 (£525,000) if no grandchild is born within a year.
The highly unusual lawsuit was filed on grounds of “mental harassment”.
Mr Prasad said he had spent all his savings on his son, sending him to the US in 2006 for pilot training at a cost of $65,000.
He returned to India in 2007, but lost his job and his family had to support him financially for more than two years, the Times of India reports.
Shrey Sagar, 35, did eventually get a job as a pilot. His parents say they arranged his marriage to Shubhangi Sinha, now 31, in 2016, in the hope that they would have a “grandchild to play with” during their retirement.
Haridwar, Uttarakhand | Parents move court against son&daughter-in-law, demand grandchildren/Rs 5 cr compensation.
They were wedded in 2016 in hopes of having grandchildren. We didn’t care about gender, just wanted a grandchild: SR Prasad, Father pic.twitter.com/mVhk024RG3
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) May 11, 2022
The parents say they paid for a wedding reception in a five-star hotel, a luxury car worth $80,000 and a honeymoon abroad.
“My son has been married for six years but they are still not planning a baby,” Mr Prasad said. “At least if we have a grandchild to spend time with, our pain will become bearable.”
The couple’s lawyer, AK Srivastava, told The National that the couple had demanded the money “because of mental cruelty”.
“It is a dream of every parent to become a grandparent. They had been waiting for years to become grandparents.”
The couple’s petition, filed in Haridwar, is expected be heard by a court on 17 May.