Shreyas H S
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, Jul 26: Despite a stringent law against harassment of parents, such cases across the state are reportedly increasing. This is mainly because many parents are unaware of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents’ and Senior Citizens’ Act 2007 - a stern law enacted especially to ensure security during old age.
Dr Ravindranath Shanbhag
Udupi-based Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF), after publicizing the law on a private television channel about 20 days ago, received more than 75 complaints from across the state. "After the promotion of the law on TV, our office has been flooded with calls and letters about several instances of harassment of parents," said Dr Ravindranath Shanbhag, president of HRPF.
The Act was enacted in 2007 with the aim of protecting the interests of the elderly folk living in the country. However, the law, according to Ravindranath, has not been comprehensively explained among the senior citizens.
According to the law, issues pertaining to violation of this Act will be tried by the sub-divisional magistrate, who is also the assistant commissioner (AC), functioning in the jurisdiction of the occurrence of the incident. In the state of Karnataka, 106 ACs have the power to provide justice to senior citizens. The ACs, as per the law, have to dispose off the case within the stipulated period of 90 days.
A few punishable offences under the law are fraudulent transfer of land, non-payment of monthly expenses, refusal to hospitalize sick parents, and failure to provide food and shelter to the parents. If these are reported to the AC concerned by the parents, he/she has the power to resolve the case and punish the perpetrators as per the law. The law states that cases cannot be tried in court and there should not be any interference of advocates.
"After we flashed awareness programmes on the law, we have been witnessing a whopping increase in number of incidents being reported to us," said Shanbhag. He added that the foundation is making efforts to resolve the cases by convening a meet between parents and their children to compromise. "Those who fail to agree to the terms with their parents will be referred to the sub-divisional magistrate," he said.
Vishalakshamma (61) of Bangalore, who was thrown out of her house by her son Prashanth Kumar S, lamented, "In an attempt to help my son develop his travel agency, I handed over my house to him through a gift deed. However, he put me out of the house and instead accommodated his wife’s brother’s family. When I requested him to provide me a small room in the house, he refused, saying he had spent enough on me and it was high time I vacated the house."
Though Vishalakshamma succeeded in getting the order from the AC, Bangalore South, to quash the sale deed, the sub-registrar office has not acted on it. Learning about HRPF, she approached Shanbhag to resolve the case and ensure her safety in future.
Also, recently there was the case of 86-year-old Savithri Amma, whose house was usurped by her own son after the death of her husband. Savithri, with the help of Dr Ravindranath Shanbhag, fought her case and finally got justice under this law.
Assistant commissioner of Mangalore Dr Prashanth R expressed concern over the unreported cases. Apart from corroborating the assistant commissioner’s power to deal with the cases, he requested human rights activists to bring such cases to the notice of the AC’s office for realization of rights of senior citizens in the city.
In case of violations, contact-8971033582
Dr Ravindranath Shanbhag, chairperson, HRPF, can also be contacted in instances of any violations of human rights and rights of elderly people.