Old And Abandoned: Sordid Tale Of Two Elderly Odisha Couples

Cuttack: Taking care of parents in old age is a responsibility every child is expected to shoulder. Parents usually pin hope in a son for care and love at advanced age.

Unfortunately not every child stands by the parents when they need him/her the most. Instances of torture and abandonment of old parents by their children often shake our conscience and faith in humanity.

Recently, two such heart-wrenching incidents have come to the light in Basudevpur village, under Tigiria police station of Cuttack, and Ishanamunduli village of Soro block in Balasore, respectively.

In the first instance, Jemaamani Sahu and Gokulananda an elderly couple from Basudevpur village recently knocked at the doors of the police complaining that their only child, an unemployed son, has been forcing them to work at such advanced age in order to support his expenses.

In their complaint seeking reprieve from the abusive son, the septuagenarian couple have alleged that the former would keep them starved, thrash them up mercilessly and threaten to throw them out of the house if they did not labour and earn.

In the other instance, an elderly man in Balasore district is begging for government assistance for the treatment of his ailing wife after their two sons abandoned them.

In his police complaint, Bamdev Das from Ishanamunduli village of Soro block has alleged that both his sons got settled abroad, leaving him alone to look after his wife Sandhyarani who is completely paralysed.

“We raised them with our blood and sweat. But after they stood on their feet and earned good money, they left us to die here. They have no concern for their ailing mother knowing well I am unable to look after her because I have no money and strength to earn,”cried Das.

Das said he was forced to look for odd jobs for survival and his wife’s treatment. “But now that she has been confined to bed I can’t go out for work leaving her alone at home.”

From giving his wife a bath, combing her hair to feeding her, Das has been doing the chorus routinely since many months.
Impoverished and broken by old age, Das said he desperately needs help from the government for basic survival and treatment of his ailing wife.

“We are living on the mercy of the almighty,”cried Das.