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Tormented by their children, elderly pin hopes on courts
Elderly parents in Lucknow are fighting legal battles against their ungrateful children for eviction, seeking maintenance allowances from them.
Surendra Prasad Tiwari and his wife Rani Devi got the shock of their life when their son Umesh decided to evict them from their two room house in Vishwa Bank Colony in Barra.
Rendered homeless, Tiwari, 70, sought legal help taking his son to the SDM court and which finally ruled in his favour after six months.
“I had two options before me, either to accept my fate or fight it out. My wife and I chose to fight, and by God’s grace, we won,” said Tiwari, adding he expects his son and his wife to behave now.
The SDM court has ordered Barra police to get the elderly couple regain possession of their house.
This is not an isolated case. About 600 parents are similarly pursuing legal action against their ‘ungrateful children’ in various SDM courts across the city. The SDM Sadar’s court is hearing 527 such cases while the court of SDM Bilhaur, 45 cases are being heard. Another 18 cases are listed in SDM Ghatampur’s court and 10 in SDM Narwal court. While Sadar is an urban area, the remaining three tehsils are semi-urban or rural in nature.
Last week, Jagmohan, a resident of Safipur, Chakeri, also won a legal battle against his son and daughter-in-law. The court ordered his son, Ram Babu, to provide him with a monthly allowance of 1500 rupees on the 10th of each month. Ram Babu runs a shop that used to be his father’s source of income. “I married off my four daughters and my eldest son has moved out with his family. My other son threw me out of the house after my wife passed away. Now, I am homeless and that’s why I approached the court and filed for maintenance allowance. Jagmohan said.
In Nazir Bagh, Nuruddin, 68, and his wife Sameena, 65, have taken legal action against their son Mohammad Faisal and daughter-in-law Hina Fatima in the SDM Sadar court. “They used to live with us peacefully, but suddenly they started tormenting us. Hina even called her brothers to forcefully evict us from our own home. All we desire is peace, nothing more from them but they continue to conspire and pose a threat to us. That’s why we have turned to the court to seek a resolution to this matter,” said Nuruddin, who previously worked in a tannery.
SDM Sadar Prakhar Kumar Singh said that there has been a significant increase in cases of harried parents taking on their children. “Our aim is to facilitate the return of the elderly who have been forcibly expelled from their homes and to ensure that they receive maintenance allowances from their children,” he added.
Dr RD Sahu a social scientist and professor with Lucknow University said: “Growing consumerism and greed for material benefits is largely responsible for such happenings.”
He said: “Despite mobile phones, communication has declined, social capital has shifted, and property has become a source of conflict as children seek to convert it into capital. All of this has led to a significant disconnect,” he said.
