HC relief for 70-yr-old widow tortured by daughter

The Bombay high court (HC) has come to the rescue of a 70-year-old widow who was being mentally and physically tortured by her daughter and threatened to evict the

The Bombay high court (HC) has come to the rescue of a 70-year-old widow who was being mentally and physically tortured by her daughter and threatened to evict the younger woman if she caused any further harm to her parent.

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“If children cannot take care of their parents and allow them to live in peace, they at least ought not to make their life a living hell,” said the bench of justice SJ Kathawalla and justice Surendra Tavade, while issuing a stern warning to the daughter of the septuagenarian.

The bench stopped short of evicting the daughter, a divorcee, and her son, from the petitioner woman’s flat at Lokhandwala Complex, because of the Covid-19 lockdown. The court, however, warned the daughter and her son that they would be evicted forthwith if either of them caused any harassment to the elderly woman or tried to stop any of her relatives from contacting her or from entering the flat.

The judges said that after talking to the petitioner, they had gathered the impression that the petitioner could suffer physical and mental harassment and consequently, a threat to her life at the hands of her daughter if she continued to reside with her daughter. “However, in view of the pandemic and the consequent problems that individuals are facing, we are today not passing an order directing the daughter to make alternate arrangements,” said the bench.

The elderly woman moved the HC seeking eviction of her abusive daughter and her son, as the tribunal constituted under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 could not take up her plea for urgent reliefs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The petitioner said that her daughter had eloped with her boyfriend, a person having a criminal background, in 1998. They spent two years in constant fights and in July 2000, he abandoned her and their toddler son. The daughter then returned to her parents’ home at Lokhandwala, as a temporary shelter for a few months. However, since then she and her son have been forcibly residing in the flat.

The 70-year-old added that a few months after returning home, the daughter started harassing both, the petitioner and her husband and had threatened to level false accusations of molestation against her father.

The elderly woman’s petition stated that she was mentally and physically tortured by her daughter, especially after her husband died in January 2011, and her finances were taken over by the younger woman. She alleged that she was forced to remain naked, to compel her not to step out of the house, and was served food only once a day.

On August 3, 2018, the petitioner got an opportunity to step out of the flat, but was hit by an autorickshaw while crossing the road, and had to be hospitalised. Thereafter, the 70-year-old was bedridden for a long time. During this period, her daughter did not allow any of her relatives to enter the flat and also broke the woman’s mobile phone to ensure that she could not contact anyone.

In February this year, the elder woman’s other daughter visited from the US and took her to Bombay Hospital, where a series of tests revealed that she had a shoulder fracture and several nerves around her neck had been badly damaged.