Instances of children abandoning parents and subjecting them to cruelty are not unheard of in our society. While often such instances of the plight of senior citizens are dismissed as family matters, a man and his sister in Kerala are set to lose their jobs for abandoning their old mother on her deathbed.
When police approached the son asking him to take care of the mother, he said he couldn’t leave his house because he had to “feed his dog”.
Police in Kerala’s Idukki district have registered a case under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, against Mylakkal Saji (55) and his sister Siji (50) over the death of their mother Annakutty Mathew, who died while undergoing treatment.
The 76-year-old Annakutty Mathew, who stayed alone at a rented house in the Attapallam colony near Kumily in Idukki, was abandoned by her children.
Her daughter, Siji, is a temporary employee of Kumily Panchayat, while her son Saji works as a collection agent for the Kumily branch of Kerala Bank.
Annakutty was admitted to the Kottayam Medical College and Hospital, 112 km away from her house, on Friday with the help of police, locals and ward members.
Sub-inspector Lijo P Mani called her son several times and asked him to take care of the elderly.
In reply, Saji told them that he was busy and could not leave his house because he had to feed his dog.
Hence, according to a statement from the Idukki Police Chief Vishnu Pratheep TK, a woman civil police officer from Kumily Police Station was deputed as a bystander at the hospital.
Annakutty died on Saturday morning at Kottayam Medical College.
Her last rites were conducted on the same day under the leadership of Sub-inspector Lijo P Mani, where hundreds of people from the area including the Idukki district collector Sheeba George and sub-collector Arun S Nair paid homage to her.
Saji also paid last respects to his mother like most others in the crowd. However, Siji did not even attend the funeral.
The police officers took the coffin to the cemetery of St Thomas Ferona Church at Attapallam while the district collector and sub-collector were present until the funeral rites were over.
After the last rights, “a case was registered against the siblings under section 24 of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007. A report on this matter has been submitted to the district collector,” VA Nishadmon, Deputy Superintendent of Police told News18.com.
As per police, section 24 of the Kerala Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 provides that whoever is responsible for the care or protection of a senior citizen, leaves such senior citizen in any place to wholly abandon them, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or a fine which may extend to five thousand rupees or with both.
Panchayat officials said that the process to dismiss Siji from her post has been initiated. The bank, where Saji works, has also sought a report from the police. According to officials, he will be dismissed from the job based on this.
According to sources, the son was against his mother for not sharing the money she earned after selling her land and he attended the funeral to bypass a case.
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