Since 2006, June 15 every year is commemorated as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. The World Health Organization (WHO) at the United Nations and the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) initiated the tradition of earmarking this day to serve as a reminder about the harms inflicted upon older people or senior citizens, generally understood as those above 60 years of age.
Elder abuse is a complex phenomenon and the recognition of it is challenging both at the collective as well as at the individual level. In India, the virtues of filial piety, seva (unconditional service) and obeyance towards older kin structure the popular imagination about care for older people. In such a scenario, the recognition or acknowledgement of and the diagnosis of abuse is difficult.
Elder abuse has been defined by the WHO as “a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person”. Physical, sexual, psychological and emotional abuse, financial and material abuse, abandonment, neglect, and serious loss of dignity and respect are the types of elder abuse identified by WHO. Several reports from recent times attest to rampant forms of elder abuse at various sites: the domestic and the institutional. In the domestic sphere, as these studies elucidate, the primary familial caregivers such as son and daughter-in-law are the main abusers too.
When the intimate arena of the home becomes the site for violence, legal aid and external help become crucial. Elder abuse is a form of domestic violence, and as Martha Nussbaum writes in her 2017 book Aging Thoughtfully: Conversation about Retirement, Romance, Wrinkles, and Regret, “All forms of domestic violence cripple agency”. This makes it extremely hard for those being abused to reach out for help.
Also read: Survey Finds One in 20 of India’s Elderly Was Ill-Treated in 2020
One barrier to providing the necessary support in the context of abuse is the inability to take recourse to laws for various reasons, one of which is the dependency of older parents on their children. Sometimes, children control the lives of older parents including who they can interact with. Several cases that I have encountered during my visits to a Maintenance Tribunal in Kolkata attest to this. Further, despite possessing the knowledge about the appropriate legal remedies, older people might be hesitant to prosecute their children as it could ruin the family’s reputation.
In metropolitan cities like Kolkata and Delhi, among many upper lower and middle-class families, I have found property to be at the heart of intergenerational acrimonious disputes. Neglect, maltreatment and control over the lives of older parents after the transference of property to adult children were cited as reasons for complaints by many older complainants at the Tribunal. Several high court and Supreme Court judgments too reveal how rampant maltreatment post property transfer is. The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 comes to the rescue by providing the option to reverse the gift deed which in all other civil matters is non-revocable. Section 23 (related to fraudulent property transfer) of the law was found to be most commonly evoked by those older people who can, with legal help, file complaints at the Tribunals or prosecute their adult children in higher courts. They complained of abuse after the transfer of property.
The law defines “maintenance” as food, clothing, shelter and medical treatment and prescribes appropriate behaviour towards older people to enable them to lead “normal” lives; thus totally disregarding that normalisation of violence and agony can be part of routine lived realities, especially in the context where older persons are financially dependent on their adult children.
Qualitative research in this field provides a nuanced understanding of elder abuse. Studies by the HelpAge India and Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) by the International Institute for Population Sciences have highlighted the prevalence of emotional abuse and neglect, which is hard to quantify. In my ethnographic study too, such experiences of abuse were frequently narrated. For instance, complaints of not being given a new sari in many years or not being given the same kind of food as enjoyed by other family members were expressed as lamentation by older people. Such material provisions are not what the law would typically denote as “essential” needs for maintenance but they are symbolic gestures of affection and assurance of being considered valuable in the family.
Also read: India’s Elderly in Distress, Intervention Needed, NGO Tells Centre
While recognition has been given to the maltreatment of older people at the hands of adult children and unlawful property usurpations, the existing law does not mention or define elder abuse. Amendments to the law were proposed in 2019 to include the safety and security of older adults and to recognise elder abuse as a criminal offence but the law has not been passed yet. The law must heed elder abuse as a unique form of violence.
The existing law’s biggest strength is its informalisation of the dispute resolution process. Involving NGOs to bring about conciliation has its benefit as it enables traumatised older people to resolve their difficulties in informal settings rather than being stuck in bureaucratic settings of Tribunals and courts. The proposed 2019 amendment re-familialises care and if passed would oblige son-in-law and daughter-in-law to also look after the older parents of their spouses. Such a clause conveniently side-lines the needs of those senior citizens who are childless. The state has an important role to play in ensuring the social security of all older persons since they are often considered a “burden” by the family and community where they live.
Legal aid camps can be set up regularly around the city to spread awareness about existing legal provisions. State-sponsored institutional care, rehabilitation centres as well as palliative care facilities are crucial as health needs multiply in late life. The existing pension amount must be revised over time. Families with working adult children would also benefit if there are daycare centres for older kin. Studies have highlighted that companionship is an important need in late life.
In this regard, initiatives such as the Hasgulla Club established in 2020 under the aegis of the New Delhi District Legal Services Authority, must be encouraged. Hasgulla Club aims to provide holistic care to older people and includes mobile recreational services and counselling. Such counselling services are quite beneficial as the mental health needs of older people are often disregarded. This becomes even more significant in case older people live in oppressive environments. Community volunteers can be roped in by the local police to provide essential services to older people, like assisting them to clinics and fetching groceries. Other means of creating awareness are also crucial. Films and advertisements can be made in vernacular to portray various issues faced in late life.
During the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been many instances of elder abuse around the world. The lack of access to timely health care, denial of hospital admission, and high-handedness of institutional caregivers were reported in many western countries like Belgium, Spain and UK. Large numbers of older people succumbed to COVID-19 and there are no statistics available for these lives lost. During the lockdown in India, distress calls to shelter homes from older people had escalated. All this highlights the value that we attach to the lives of older people in our societies.
Elder Abuse Awareness Day is a reminder that it is the responsibility of the state and all civil society members to oppose ageism or age-based discrimination, the infantilisation and stripping away of their agency and to push for an elder abuse related law.
Deblina Dey teaches sociology at O.P. Jindal Global University and is Assistant Director at the Centre for Law and Humanities. She researches on care and laws related to older adults. Her Twitter handle is @Deblina_Dey
Featured image: Pranav Nahata / Unsplash