Senior Citizens Abuse in India

Abuse of senior citizens is often an unspoken issue in India. Compared to other kinds of abuse, senior citizen abuse is unique in the fact that it often happens within the same household in which the senior citizens are staying, the abusers are family members on whom the person is dependent and most often the abuses go unreported.

Even though traditionally Indian culture promotes respect for senior citizens, with the changing lifestyles and moving away from joint families and even nuclear families, abuse has become a big issue. Some people may treat their senior citizen parents or family members as a burden and not look after them well, others may be more interested in their property to which they may hold the title, and ill treat them in order to get rights to the property. This problem may be becoming worse because of the Covid pandemic, since senior citizens may be less mobile, less familiar with apps and services and also scared to move out for fear of catching the disease.

Moreover, senior citizens are often scared psychologically of courts and police and may be unfamiliar with laws protecting them, in case of abuses. Lack of familiarity with technology is another big problem, since many of the protections depend on access to the internet and filing online complaints at various web portals and senior citizen helplines. Because of all this, senior citizens even if they face abuse are reluctant or not able to report it.

Although laws and institutions do exist in India to prevent abuse and provide relief to senior citizens, in practice there may be lack of awareness of such laws, also it may be difficult for senior citizens to access these protections due to reasons mentioned. Hence, in this book we focus on the practical steps that a senior citizen or their well-wishers need to take to obtain support and protection.