KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has come to the aid of a 100-year-old woman seeking maintenance from one of her sons by upholding a family court order directing him to pay Rs 2,000 per month to her.

Justice P V Kunhikrishnan also slammed the 57-year-old son, saying that if he fails to take care of his mother, he should be “ashamed of himself”.

“It is the duty of every son to look after his mother. It is not a charity,” the court said and dismissed the man’s appeal against the family court order of April 2022.

The High Court noted that the man challenged the April 2022 order of the family court after a delay of 1,149 days, in 2025, after recovery proceedings were initiated against him for not paying the maintenance amount.

“At the time of filing the petition (in the family court), the mother of the petitioner was 92, and now she is aged 100 and waiting for the maintenance from her son! I am forced to say that, I feel deeply ashamed, being a member of this society, where a son is fighting with his mother, aged 100, merely to deny her a monthly maintenance of Rs 2,000,” Justice Kunhikrishnan said.

The son had opposed the plea moved by his mother in the family court, seeking Rs 5,000 as monthly maintenance from him, claiming that she did not require such an amount and that he would take care of her if she stayed with him.