Is Mala really a bad mother?

Actually she was indeed emotionally blackmailing Radhika by starting off with her fathers "izzat", her dada ji ka izzat and sisters izzat with her inlaws. It was her way of indirectly telling Radz to resign though she left the choice by saying family will support you on whatever you decide because she knows family is Radhika's weakness. Apart from dada ji, none of them really gave proper support to Radz back home. If she really wanted to support Radhika, she would have directly told her to leave Saral after witnessing his "shortcomings" and behavior towards herself and her daughter.

Coming to main topic - You are right about Mala and her upbringing, Erika. Many of the emotional black mailers happens to be the "victim" themselves and lack the confidence and ability to stand up for themselves and others. This is especially true when it comes to the mothers from our social culture. For Mala, Radhika is probably a direct reflection of herself and is scared of the society.

Usually parents, especially the mothers, have the best of intention for their kids deep down but pushing your kids into a hell is not the solution. As a mother, you wouldn't want your kids to face whatever you went through and try to encourage or at least attempt to provide a better opportunity for your kids. She is being a typical helpless mother but after seeing Saral's behavior, she disappointed me the most with her emotional blackmail. I hope she stands up for Radhika in the future and tell the family about Saral.