India Ranks High On Elder Abuse

Bangalore: Bhopal ranks first in elder abuse, followed by Guwahati, Lucknow and Ahmedabad revealed a nationwide survey by the NGO HelpAge India. Bangalore ranked seventh on the list while Jaipur ranked the lowest.

The survey was conducted in 20 cities, namely Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Patna, Chandigarh, Panaji, Ahmedabad, Shimla, Jammu, Kochi, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Puducherry, Jaipur, Chennai, Dehradun and Lucknow. The study covered the elderly in the age group of 60 plus.

The report revealed that at least 31 percent of elders face abuses and 24 percent face abuses almost daily. Most of the abuses (56 percent) are committed by sons and 26 percent by daughters-in-law. In most of the cases, elderly people remain silent without reporting the incidents to anyone.

It was revealed that 77.12 percent of elderly people in Bhopal are subjected to abuse. Guwahati was next with 60.55 percent and Lucknow was in third position with 52 percent.

In a majority of cases, elders subjected to abuse do not even know that there is a police helpline available to them, and those who are aware of the services rarely use them, in order to protect ‘family honour’. As per the survey elderly women were subjected to more abuse when compared to the men and those above 80 when compared to the younger.