Elderly being increasily harassed by children to get property:Surv

New Delhi, Mar 24 (UNI) For 90-year old Om Prakash and his wife, the house that they lovingly built as an abode of peace and happiness to live with their children has turned out to be a virtual hell as their own son and daughter-in-law are now harassing and abusing them to get hold of the property.

The nonagenerian couple live in deplorable conditions with water from toilet dripping on their beds and stones being thrown from the first floor residence of their son and threat of electrocution due to water leakages in electricity points. The son even unsuccessfully tried to get the property transferred in his name by deceiving the parent.

However, when a local NGO and police intervened, the son moved out from the house to avoid getting a 'bad name'. But before this, he rented the upper floors to someone else.

Om Prakash's case is not an isolated one of an elderly person facing such harassment and abuse from children as increase in property prices in Delhi has resulted in many such cases, a survey conducted by "HelpAge India", an NGO, has revealed.

The 'Delhi Older Persons Property Victimisation Survey 2007' revealed that many elders are being harassed by their own children to sell and move to cheaper areas to fund their lavish lifestyles.

There are also cases of harassment of elderly tenants by landlords seeking to evict them to increase rents. Bullying tactics used by property owners on renters are also on the increase, Ms Nidhi Raj Kapoor of the HelpAge India told mediapersons at a media workshop on senior citizens here today.

The survey revealed that 52 per cent elderly in Delhi were facing harassment for property of whom 21 per cent openly admitted it while 31 per cent were willing to admit in confidence that they were facing problems but refused to reveal any more information or put it down in writing. Among the harassed property owners 49 per cent were living with their children and being victimised while 51 per cent were living alone with spouses and faced harassment from neighbours, companies, tenants etc.

The survey conducted on 1183 elderly revealed that among the harassment cases maximum 41.6 per cent was reported from South Delhi where the cost of property has risen very high while Central Delhi reported 20.8 per cent such cases followed by 15.27 per cent in West Delhi. Among the harassed 49 per cent were male and 28 per cent female.

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