Kerala: Couple held for torturing mother

KANNUR: The police on Monday arrested the daughter and son-in-law of an aged, ailing  woman who was ill-treated  by them at Mavissery, Payyannur. Chandramathi and her husband Raveendran, an autorickshaw driver, had been torturing the woman, K.V. Karthiayani, 75, Kunnammal house, Mavissery,   for more than a year. Health and Social Justice Minister K.K. Shylaja ordered  a department-level  investigation  into the incident.   The couple had grabbed the property  of the woman, some 17 cents of land in separate areas.

The daughter wanted Karthiayani’s sons to take care of her. However, the sons complained that they were not allowed to meet their mother,” said Investigating officer Payyannur SI  A.V. Dinesh. “There were recorded video clippings on the daughter beating up the mother, even with brooms. The neighbours were aware of the assault on the woman, whose memory had diminished in the past two years,” he said. The police  charged the couple with non-bailable offence and produced them before Thalassery Judicial First Class Magistrate court which  remanded them for two weeks.

Minister K.K. Shylaja, who ordered an investigation by social welfare department director T.V. Anupama,  said in a press release that   the family and the children, especially, have the responsibility to take care of the elderly,  the minister said in a press release. “Physical and mental abuse on people aged above 60 is punishable that can be punished with  fine as well as imprisonment. There are also complaints that the  women in old-age homes are being abused and action would be taken on the basis of the reports by a committee headed by Justice Ramachandran Nair,”  stated the minister.