Battle for justice: Distraught woman takes legal route against son who took away her house

Chennai: Harassment, cheating and mounting hospital bills led to 56-year-old S. Padmini filing a case against her son Suresh Kumar under the little known Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007.

Even though her son abandoned her eight years ago, when he managed to register Padmini’s house in his name without her knowledge, she decided to seek justice through the Act in June 2014.

At the Family Court, Padmini spoke about how she had spent her whole life working to get her son well educated. “He wanted to do a catering course and I made sure he had whatever he needed to excel and after doing so much, now he calls me names, abuses me and doesn’t even care if I’m going hungry,” she wept.
Padmini’s husband has also abandoned her and is allegedly hand in glove with her son in depriving her of basic necessities.

Padmini is a heart patient and is in need of surgery on both her knees, all costing up to Rs 9 lakh. She also has a daughter who has been supporting her throughout the ordeal, “It’s okay if I don’t get a share in the house, but my mother doesn’t deserve to suffer like this,” she said.

While the son insists that he has no money to pay for his mother’s surgery, Padmini claims that her son earns well, sometimes upto Rs 3,000-4,000 rupees per day in tips as a bartender at League Club in Arumbakkam even as he reportedly owns smaller hotels in other parts of the city.

Both of Suresh Kumar’s children study at the prestigious Vivekananda School, proving that he can afford to contribute to his mother’s surgery. Padmini is also forbidden from seeing her grandchildren whose photos she carries in her purse. “They say that they can’t talk to me because their father would beat them, I don’t know how I gave birth to such a horrible person,” she said.

Padmini also claimed that her son had wiped clean her husband and her bank accounts where she had nearly Rs 20 lakh. Unable to even sit upright due to her various health issues, the distraught mother said she hoped justice would be done but was skeptical. Padmini’s final hearing is scheduled for September 19 and she hopes that her son at least attends the hearing this time.