Bhubaneswar, June 14: The son and daughter-in-law are the primary abusers of the elderly, revealed a survey report on abuse of the elderly in Bhubaneswar released here on the occasion of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day here today.
The report was released by HelpAge India, a voluntary body working for the elderly.
Surveyors interviewed 280 elderly people in the city. Of them, 20 per cent reported facing abuse daily while 29 per cent said they were abused once a week and 23 per cent reported abuse once a month. Seventy-five per cent of those who faced abuse lived with their family and 69 per cent were the owners of the house in which they were living. The abuse came from the most trusted of sources, with the primary abuser being the son in 62 per cent of the cases, followed by the daughter-in-law in 25 per cent cases.
Four per cent of the elderly people abused identified disrespect as the common form of abuse, followed by neglect (31 per cent) and verbal abuse (29 per cent).
Only 12 per cent of those abused reported it. Out of the 78 per cent who did not report it, 61 per cent said they were staying silent to protect family honour, which was of the foremost importance to them. Police helplines were known to a majority of those abused (45 per cent) but never used, because of lack of trust in the cops or to protect the family’s honour.
For the elderly, the solution to tackle abuse also lay within the family, with 62 per cent of the older persons suggesting the most effective way to tackle it was by sensitising children and strengthening intergenerational bonding.
There are about 37,825 older persons in the city, of whom 17,151 are women. This includes 5,122 persons above eighty years of age.
Releasing the report, state information commissioner Jagadananda said there was an urgent need to set up citizen assistance centres in the state. “To begin with, we will provide assistance in setting up two such centres in VSS Nagar and BJB Nagar,” he said.
Besides providing counselling, these centres would help the elderly by providing information and getting entitlements, Jagadananda said.
With 23.31 per cent of the elderly reporting abuse, Odisha is better than other states in eastern India, where abuse of the elderly is common.
