By D N Singh
Major Maheswar Dwivedi(Rtd) and his wife, both in their 70s use to sit in their South facing patio having a glimpse of the small hillock interspersed with thick foliage and bald rocks. Overall, it used to be feast for the eyes at that age and a vast solitude spreading over. But they have missed that for years and eventually died of stress-induced high sugar a year or so back.
Such couples, with their children mostly settled outside, long to feel the crackling notes of kids and an aroma of a ‘desi’ dish coming out from the kitchen. An young lady saunters out slowly with some cuisine in a plate still steaming.
In fact, every old-aged citizens of this time strongly desire for those elements in a house and family hovering over them.
Now with the quest for lucrative jobs abroad or in a few Indian IT hubs has practically churned out the peace fabric of families. It needs no saying that, living alone is difficult especially after you cross a certain age. Everyday you hear and read about cases of senior citizens being murdered or robbed. It is almost everywhere be it a big or a small city.
Either the delivery people or people assigned to attend power issues or other appliances, like repair works, once they come to know a female or an elderly couple alone, they prey on to loot and even kill. This is a common template. Such news articles are available on wholesale in the papers. But who cares!
Even the national capital of India is one of the most unsafe. On 7 February, 88-year-old Shanti Devi was found murdered in her house in Northeast Delhi’s Dayalpur.
Police record reveal, out of the three accused in the case visited Shanti’s house for renovation a few months ago. After they noticed she was well-to-do and gullible, they hatched a plan along with a third person to commit theft at her house.”
An FIR invoking charges of murder under section 302, robbery under section 392, and theft under section 379 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered in connection with the case.
As per data by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 26,110 cases of crimes against senior citizens were registered across India in 2021 as compared to 24794 cases in 2020. Delhi registered the highest number of cases among all metropolitan cities in the country accounting for over 27 percent of total crimes committed against people aged 60 years and above in these cities.
“We have WhatsApp and Telegram groups through which we regularly communicate with senior citizens, we visit them occasionally to help with their daily needs and ensure their safety” police said.
While some senior citizens are receptive to a beat constable visiting them regularly, some don’t cooperate. “It’s our duty to ensure they’re safe so we keep trying to make them feel comfortable. We make sure that our officers are trained to deal with the elderly in a sensitive manner,” is what the NCRB records say.
In fact, the problem is almost pan-India not the national capital alone. Even family(children) of such elderly people cannot absolve themselves of the moral responsibilities. Just perks they earn in out-station jobs is not the end.
