Hyderabad: The recent CCTV video showing Bijnore, UP, housewife Sangeeta Jain abusing her mother-in-law sent shock waves in society but also brought home the glaring fact that despite abuse senior citizens are not willing to complain.
In this case, mother-in-law Rajrani Jain was assaulted with a stone and strangled with a cloth which was recorded in the CCTV camera installed in the house by Sangeeta’s husband Sandeep.
The recordings gave evidence of harassment and resulted in booking an attempt to murder against Sangeeta.
HelpAge India liaison manager Mrinal Lankapalli said senior citizens who face abuse at home are not willing to come forward and publicly name their children.
“In private they talk about it but do not raise an alarm till it becomes life-threatening. In doing so, they tolerate a lot of harassment and abuse. During our our annual surveys we have found senior citizens who are not willing to go on record regarding abuse by their children,” Ms Lankapalli said.
It is not just in their houses, elders face abuse in old age homes as well.
Sister Sandra David who works with an old age home at Alwal said, “Caregivers have to have patience to deal with the elderly. Most of them are in a hurry to finish bathing and giving them the medicines quickly. In doing so, they scream and shout at the elderly, which is not correct.”
Many times, caregivers are known to intimidate senior citizens. A recent case in the Government Old Age Home at Suchitra had the authorities sit up and take action as a senior citizen stayed out the whole day and got heatstroke.
Speaking about the case, a senior officer in the Ranga Reddy collectorate said that the elderly man was edgy as his family had not visited him for more than a week.
“One of the caregivers was very stern with him and he had a major fight and refused to enter the home. They had to call an ambulance and take him to hospital and alert his family members,” the officer said.
Such cases made it important that caregivers are given psychological counselling to handling senior citizens.
