Hyderabad: A man manhandled his 82-year-old mother, leaving her with a fractured leg, among other injuries, when he found out that she had transferred her property to somebody else.
The woman, Durgamma, and her husband, Eshwaraiah, worked for the GHMC as sweepers for 40 years. Since their retirement, they have been receiving a pension of Rs 15,000 each.
The couple has four sons and two daughters. “Durgamma stayed with her son Ashok at Boduppal for one year. After that, she took her belongings and went to her daughter’s house in Kachiguda without informing anybody. She alleged that her son had taken away her bank passbook and that he had been drawing her and her husband’s pensions. He even sold the gold that she had with her, and he frequently tortured her and his father. He used to yell at them for every small thing,” said G. Sravanthi, the lawyer representing Durgamma.
Narrating her ordeal, the elderly woman said, “I do not know when I will die; all I want is my husband, who is with my son Ashok and is being ill-treated. Ashok has not allowed me to meet my husband for a year now. Even my daughter tried to meet her father but in vain. If I go there, there is a threat to my life.”
Durgamma’s daughter, with whom she has been living, approached C. Anjali Khader, a local social activist who, after listening to the case, took it to advocate G. Sravanthi. The advocate immediately brought the case to the notice of the local police in Medipally.
The advocate said, “Before going to Medipally police station, I met Uma Maheshwar Sharma, the DCP of Malkajgiri. He instructed the team there to personally look into the matter. However, when I went there, Ashok’s family members were there. His son, Gangadhar, abused me and Durgamma but the police kept mum. They refused to investigate the matter and simply asked Durgamma to live with her son.”
When consulted for a legal opinion, High Court advocate Deepak Bhattacharjee said, “There is no law under the Indian Penal Code which defines a punishment for people who ill-treat their elderly parents. The matter has to either be resolved within the family, or the family members can request the police to look into the matter.”
Jagannath Reddy, the Inspector of Medipally, said, “I deployed a constable at the residence in Boduppal, to look into the issue. Eshwaraiah, who is a 93-year-old man, said that he did not want to stay with his wife, but wanted to remain with his son.”
