Hiranprabha as she lay on the makeshift bed near Racecoursepara in Jalpaiguri town. Picture by Biplab Basak

Siliguri, May 27: An 88-year-old woman roamed the streets of Jalpaiguri town for over an hour today before collapsing, having been turned away by four of her sons who refused to have anything to do with her.

Except for Govinda, the youngest, the other five sons of Hiranprabha Bhowmik are government servants. Two of them live in Calcutta and Birpara, 625km and 125km from here respectively. The other four are residents of Jalpaiguri town.

“My husband, a businessman, could not build a house because we had to bring up nine children (six sons and three daughters). But he had always assured me that our sons would take care of me in his absence. It was so humiliating to beg for shelter,” said Hiranprabha as she gasped for breath on a makeshift bed with her packet of puffed rice and a bag of clothes, as members of Jalpaiguri Welfare Organisation, an NGO, made arrangements to take her to hospital. By evening, she had slipped into semi-consciousness.

“I wouldn’t say she is stable. She is old and is suffering from some nutrional deficiency as well. On top of that, she had been roaming in this heat for over an hour. We have put her on oxygen and saline. Nothing can be said before 24 hours,” said S.C. Bhowmick, the superintendent of Jalpaiguri District Hospital, where Hiranprabha was admitted.

The woman used to live with her four sons — Prasanta, Arun, Ajit and Govinda — in turns.

Rickshawpuller Durga Charan Roy, who had ferried Hiranprabha from Prasanta’s house in Racecoursepara to Pilkhana where Govinda stays and back to Racecoursepara again, had informed some local people about the woman’s plight around 12.30pm.

Prasanta is an employee of the land reforms department. He had allowed her to come to his house yesterday because there was a puja. “But today she was ordered out and told to go to Govinda’s house in Pilkahna. But there, too, she was refused entry. I then brought her back to Racecoursepara again but she was not allowed in,” said Roy.

“She told me that she had also visited Ajit, who lives in the same building as Prashanta,” said Roy. Ajit is an employee of the Jalpaiguri Municipality. Arun, the third son, stays in another part of Racecoursepara. The health employee, too, had allegedly turned the mother away.

“By then, I was scared. Mashima was not looking well. So I stopped the rickshaw and approached people for help,” said Roy.

One of Hiranprabha’s daughters lives in Jalpaiguri but the old woman had not visited her.

Arun and Ajit claimed that they were not aware of their mother visiting them. “We didn’t know she was in hospital. We will go at once,” said Ajit.

Prasanta’s wife Bakul said it was not possible to keep Hiranprabha permanently at their house. “She is not my husband’s responsibility alone,” said Bakul.

Pinu said her husband Govinda did not have a permanent job. “My husband earns the least among the brothers,” she said.

Members of the District Congress Sevadal have helped Hiranprabha file an application with the Legal Aid Forum for free legal help

Swarup Mondal, the chairman of the district Sevadal and a lawyer, said the forum would first send a notice to all the sons, demanding that they settle the matter amicably. “If they don’t respond, a case under Section 125(1d) of the CrPC could be filed, seeking monthly allowance from her sons,” Mondal said.

At the hospital, Hiranprabha’s sons had tried to dissuade her from filing the case, Mondal alleged.

Section125 of the CrPC entitles a divorced wife, minors and old parents to claim maintenance from a husband, father or earning son, respectively. “It is a key to provide social justice and has been specially enacted to protect women and children,” a lawyer in Jalpaiguri said.