To be old, is to be abused by your kids
Elderly still have a hard time fighting for their rights.
Mangaluru: Seventy eight- year- old Pramila was driven out of her home in Mangaluru by her son several years ago, but refusing to go meekly she approached the Maintenance Tribunal set up under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act to regain it. To her joy, the tribunal ordered her son to return her house to her and also give her a monthly allowance of Rs 3,000. But five years later Pramila is still waiting for both.
And she is not alone in this predicament as several senior citizens, ill treated by their children, find it difficult to fight back as they have little help in regaining their rights even after the law comes to their rescue.
Human Rights Protection Foundation president, Ravindranath Shanbhag , who has been fighting for the cause of senior citizens and even refused to receive the prestigious Karnataka Rajyotsava Award due to the poor implementation of the legislation passed for their welfare, says though the Act has technically succeeded in providing justice to senior citizens cheated by their children or caretakers, in practice not many have gained.
“In several cases the tribunal orders the children to hand over the houses they have grabbed back to their parents or pay them maintenance, but the next big challenge is to make sure this happens,” Dr Shanbhag explains.
“Once the senior citizen wins a case, he or she has to approach government offices or the police to have the order implemented. To regain their homes from their children they need to go to the sub- registrar’s office and municipality. But most often they are not aware of the procedure invovled. There is no proper mechanism for implementation of the tribunal’s orders,” he deplores, suggesting that a team should be set up under the Women and Child Welfare Department to help the elderly in such cases.
“Once the order is passed, this team should do all the necessary paperwork to ensure that it is followed,” adds Dr Shanbhag , who has been volunteering to help the elderly himself.