BANGALORE: The Children's Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP) called for law reforms to ensure a balanced participation of both parents in a child's life in the event of their separation. "We demand at least 50% of custody be given to parents," said Kumar V Jahgirdar, president, CRISP.

He said research has proved that fatherless children are prone to towards suicidal tendencies, drug addiction and teenage pregnancies, and are likely to elope or drop out from school. Deprivation of fatherly love and affection can even lead to serious disorders like Parental Alienation Syndrome.

The organization asked to set up courts to deal with child custody cases. "Our law favours women. But a child should get affection from both the parents," said Samuel Perera, medical counsellor, CRISP.

The organization is conducting a rally on Saturday to demand family law reforms.