Jalandhar dist witnessing rise in cases of elderly abuse, abandonment

Aparna Banerji
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, August 3
Back to back cases of two elderly women being abused by their kin within one week has once again focused the spotlight on the mistreatment being meted out to the aged and infirm by their relatives and children.
On Tuesday, a video of a young woman, beating up an elderly woman, went viral. The 95-year-old Phillaur resident was beaten by her daughter-in-law. In the video, a younger woman with her back to camera was seen landing blows on the elderly woman, who lay on the floor. Later, she gave the elderly woman a stick, which the elderly woman tried to hurl back at her. After the video went viral, the elderly woman was admitted to the Phillaur Civil Hospital owing to her injuries. She was later discharged and had to go back to the same home.
ASI Surinder Kumar of the Phillaur police station said proceedings had been initiated against the daughter-in-law under Section 115 of the BNS. He said the daughter-in-law wasn’t at her Phillaur home, but police teams were making efforts to find her.
Meanwhile, on Friday, representatives of the Power of Law and Nation Empowerment (PLANE) NGO accompanied an elderly woman to the office of the Commissioner of Police (CP) in Jalandhar with the complaint that she was allegedly thrown out of her house by her own family, leaving her in a vulnerable and distressing situation. While the CP, wasn’t present, Manvi Mahendru from PLANE took up the issue with an official at his office on Friday. CP Swapan Sharma said, “I’m not aware of the complaint, but matters involving ouster of elderly are not under the purview of the police, but the district magistrate, with whom the case may or may not be taken up, based on its merits.” Manvi Mahendru from PLANE took up the issue with the CP’s office the next day.

Mistreatment on the rise
Tarsem Kapoor, Chairman, Apahaj Ashram, Jalandhar, said, “The number of elderly patients, who are reporting to us, have risen dramatically compared to a decade ago. We have 160 inmates, of whom, barring a couple, all are abandoned elderly. Five patients from the Red Cross Old Age Home at the rear of the civil hospital were also shifted to our ashram six months ago. One of them was brought with a pelvic fracture which we treated, another had died.”
He said, “Four more wards are under construction at the ashram to accommodate more inmates. Children abandon their parents after usurping their properties. In many cases, no one even turns up to conduct their last rites.”