One in every four elderly face abuse in State: study

-- Are senior citizens safe in cities?

BHUBANESWAR: After a long working life, an elder person wants a blissful retired life with family members. But, now-a-days it turned into a myth for some unfortunate elderly people in the country as well as the State who don’t get favour of his family and spend a miserable life with the negligence of his own family. Almost one in every four (23.2%) elderly people in the State face abuse and mostly by their family members, revealed a national-level study.

The study which was conducted by HelpAge India, a charity working for the country’s elderly, found that 31 per cent of older persons reported facing abuse in national level. In State-level, Madhya Pradesh ranked the highest in elder abuse with 77.12 per cent, while Jaipur (Rajasthan) reported miniscule 1.67 per cent cases of elder abuse, the report stated.

Particularly in Bhubaneswar, the primary abuser is the son in 62 per cent cases, followed by the daughter-in-law with 25 per cent cases and 13 per cent by others, the report revealed. It stated that 78 per cent of those abused didn’t report to anyone and 61 per cent of these did not report the matter to uphold family honor.

One of the most important and unfortunate thing is disrespect to the elders. In the capital city, the report said, 69 per cent older people perceived disrespect is more prevalent in society followed by verbal abuse (31%).

Though the older people’s population is only 9 per cent of the total population of the State in 2011 and it would be increased to 13.8 per cent in 2016, they are very important for the society to guide the young generation, said activist HelpAge India State head Rashmi Mohanty. “Due to their sacrifice and hard work, we are living in a better condition now,” she said.

Recently, two old women Sabitri Sahu (70) of Balabhadrapur and Saibani Sahu (65) of Bandhamunhi village in Nayagarh district were thrown out by their family members including son and daughter-in-law. After being cast aside by their family members, they roamed around the capital city and later they were rescued by Maa Ghar Foundation.

There are so many incidents are taking place everyday across the State, but the elderly people are not reporting to uphold their family honour. “Every father and mother in the society makes priceless sacrifice for the happiness of their children and to see them as good human beings amidst insurmountable obstacles. Even they go hungry to feed her children. But when they become old and infirm, face torture instead of love, affection and proper care from their children and family members. Do we really respect our elders,” said an activist.

According retired Professor of psychology in Utkal University and Geriatric counselor Prof Pravash Kumar Mishra, there is a psychological contract between elderly people and the youngsters. That psychological contract has become weak and sick and that generates attitudinal problem as the social values are decreasing among the new generations. Another problem is gender difference, he said, female elderly people are very adjustable than male elders. So the male elders are very much affected by the attitudinal problem in the family, he added.

Besides all these family factors, the elderly people are also facing many problems from the outside people. In cities like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Brahmapur, the elderly people living alone in their home are not safety. Recently, some miscreants murdered retired Professor Gopal Krushna Panigrahy (65), a retired zoology professor of Berhampur University and his wife Kamala Kumari Panigrahy (61) at their residence at Ramkrushna Nagar in the Brahmapur city.

Recently, in the capital city, one elderly woman Jyoshna Devi was killed and her husband Kunjabihari Panigrahy was brutally attacked by four miscreants. Prior to this, an elderly woman Pushpalata Jena was brutally killed when she was alone in her home at Barmunda in the city on February 1 last year. In July 27, 2010, Panda Nursing Home owner Dr Brahmananda Panda was also killed in Kharvelnagar in city by some miscreants.

The increasing crime against senior citizens depicts the gloomy picture. Following the heinous crime against senior citizens, the Commissionerate Police have started thinking about the security of the senior citizens living alone in the city. The Senior Citizen Security Cells would be strengthened very soon, said Bhubaneswar DCP Nitinjeet Singh here on September 20.

Though some police stations under the Commissionerate Police have Senior Citizen Security Cells, but some other police stations in the city don’t have the cells, sources said. Still now more than four hundred senior citizens have registered their names in the cells of different police stations in the city.

Among all the gloomy pictures, some organisations are giving hope to the senior citizens abused by their family members. The organisations teach the elderly people how to live in a community life. They extend helping hands to protect the rights of the elderly people in the society and demand before the Government to provide social security. Whatever the reason behind the negligence of the old parents, but the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizen Act, 2007 has given a hope for the aged, said social activist Anuradha Mohanty. “No doubt there is a law, but the laws should be properly implemented in letter and spirit,” said CLAP director Bikash Das.