Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi
Udupi, Jun 28: Savithri Amma, whose son had allegedly harassed her and usurped her house by registering it in his name without the knowledge of his 86-year-old mother, has legally got back her house, said Dr Ravindranath Shanbhag, the president of Udupi Human rights foundation.
S Yogeshwar, Kundapur divisional magistrate, has passed the judgment in favour of Savithri Amma and ordered the Udupi tahsildar to transfer the property to her name.
Savithri Amma is a resident of Udupi Katte Acharya road. She had lost her husband Gururaj Bhat 14 years ago. Her husband had left behind nearly 50 cents of land, which she divided among her 8 children. She was living in her house with her youngest son Krishna Bhat.
She was a self-reliant woman and used to cook her own food and do all her works herself. Around two years back, when Krishna Bhat left for Mumbai for job, her 5th son Keshav Bhat who entered the house for performing a puja, slowly started to take over house completely, said Ravindranath.
"Over the next few months, Savithri Amma was left uncared for and she was even denied sufficient food.
She would go to Sri Krishna Math in her locality for food, and as she couldn't go out at night, she stopped having dinner. Later she was put under house arrest by her son. He would not even allow other people to visit the house and meet the lady," he said.
"Last june, the electricity bill which she received was in the name of Keshava Bhat, instead of her husband Gururaj Bhat's. This came as a shock, as, after dividing the property equally among her children, she had retained the house for herself.
"Savithri Amma then somehow managed to get out of the house and went to her sister Laxmannamma, with her and other people's help, she was able to contact Udupi police via telephone and lodge a complaint. As it was a civil matter, the police advised her to settle the issue in the court," Dr Ravindranath explained.
"Later Savithri Amma contacted the Udupi Human Rights Foundation and pleaded them for justice. The foundation filed a case in the Kundapur assistant commissioner's office last February. The court accepted the plea submitted by the Human Rights Foundation, and given justice to Savithri Amma. The Court has now asked the Udupi city police circle inspector to hand over the house to Savithri Amma themselves, if Keshava Bhat and his wife Vidya Bhat do not vacate in 15 days.
Senior Citizen Welfare Act:
Aged parents and guardians are supposed to be protected and looked after by the children. However, senior citizens who are negelected by their children need not be helpless. To deal with such cases, the central government passed the ‘Senior Citizen Welfare Act’ in 2007.
Under this Act, if the parents are unable to lead their life independently with their income, they have to be looked after by their children. The children must provide them basic necessities like food, care, shelter and clothing. If a senior citizen has no children, then the one who has the rights over his/her property is liable to look after him/her. If the children fail to give them the monthly expenses, then the senior citizen can approach the district judicial authority and get their children to look after their expenses, says Dr Ravindranath Shanbagh.