Patna police have decided to hold the hands of senior citizens, finally.

Instructions have been issued to all police stations in Patna to set up a senior citizens' cell aimed to lend a helping hand to the elderly and regularly interact with them.

"The senior citizens should get assistance regularly. Instructions have been issued to all the police stations of Patna to immediately set up a senior citizens' cell. An order regarding the same was issued on Tuesday and will reach the police stations shortly. The aim is proper assistance to senior citizens of Patna, particularly those living alone," Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vikas Vaibhav told The Telegraph.

The SSP added that the station house officers have been directed to interact with the senior citizens living within their jurisdiction.

"On the first Sunday of every month SHOs and other officers would interact with the senior citizens within their jurisdiction. On the first Sunday of every month, the SHOs would conduct a meeting with them trying to know about their problems and try to find out the solutions. The Patna police's aim should be to remove the fear of police among the elderly and help in controlling law and order. The senior citizens are always a soft target of the criminals and they should feel safe and secure in Patna," the SSP added.

Sources said instructions have been issued to try and create a database of the contacts of the senior citizens living within a police station jurisdiction. "The cops have been asked to stress on those people who are living alone. There must be quite a few people whose children stay in other states or countries while they stay alone in Patna. They are vulnerable and the police have to take special interest in them," another police officer said.

Rajesh Kumar Sharma, the station house officer of Gandhi Maidan police station, said Patna never had such a cell.

"A specific reason on why the special cell was never formed is hard to give. There are a lot of things to do and probably the idea might have not struck us. However, there have been instructions always from senior officers to take special care of the senior citizens and ensure their safety, as many of them stay alone. We have tried maintaining a register, which has the names, addresses and contact details of some of the elderly. Now, after the fresh orders have come, we will revive it in a better way," Sharma said.

He said an experienced sub-inspector-rank officer would be made the nodal officer of the cell functioning in different police stations.

"The police stations will have to maintain a proper register. The information should be circulated so that all police stations are aware of it," the SSP said.

Criminal incidents targeting senior citizens have occurred in the past. On December 25, 2013, a 70-year-old man, identified as Lal Bahadur Singh, was murdered in his residence at Postal Park. In January 2013, criminals entered the flat of one Dulli Devi (70), when she was alone, and beat her up badly later decamping with Rs 5,000 cash and some jewellery. The men used to come to the apartment to buy old newspapers and knew the time when the woman would be alone. The incident had occurred in Malahi Pakdi.

In May 2013, two men barged into the house of a retired professor of JD Women's College assaulting them and then locking her up in the bathroom of her flat on the third floor of Arya Apartments. They decamped with cash and jewellery worth Rs 3 lakh.