Elder Abuse in India

Many elders are quietly suffering indignity at the hands of those who they taught to say their first words and take their first steps. It is shocking that the largest perpetrators of Elder Abuse are their own children.

According to a rough estimate, nearly 40 % of older people living with their families are reportedly facing abuse of one kind or another, but only 1 in 6 cases actually comes to light. To highlight what is a closeted and extremely complex phenomenon, HelpAge India marked World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in Delhi today with a discussion and launch of a campaign to fight such abuse.
Source: Help Age India

Special tribunals to hear cases of mistreatment of elderly

New Delhi, Aug. 19 (PTI):
With incidents of elderly people being abandoned or mistreated by their families on the rise, the government plans to set up tribunals in all districts that senior citizens can approach without the help of a lawyer to get maintenance from their kin.
"Though we already have a penal code to try such cases, most elderly people lack resources to engage a lawyer and most importantly, they don't have the time to do all this," Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Meira Kumar told PTI in an interview.
"To address these problems, we will set up the tribunals as part of a provision the Old Age Bill, which has already been tabled in Parliament."
The tribunals, to be headed by sub-divisional magistrates, will take note of such cases and approach families to find a solution.
They will have the right to award punishment of imprisonment for up to three months. The duration of detention has been deliberately kept low as it entails punishing the relatives of the complainants, Kumar said.
"We have tried to draw a fine balance as this means going inside a family, inside two generations," she said.
Under the proposed Bill, earning members of the family who are young have to pay maintenance of up to Rs 10,000 a month and provide shelter to not only their parents who are retired but also those kin who are under 55 and are dependent on them.


Source: Hindu News Update Service