India, July 13 -- The jury is still out on whether Indians are indeed the most family-oriented people in the world. Intergenerational families that travel together, carrying their own food and dancing their dances, would make everyone think so. There is also the great Indian wedding where relatives, thrice removed, behave as integral body parts. The Indian family system still works within Asia's largely collectivistic culture. Which is why the growing number of elderly abuse cases should raise eyebrows for it ruptures the foundational principle of family: burden-sharing.

The Bombay High Court recently established that parents, irrespective of their financial status, can reverse a gift deed made to their children should they feel a breach...