Harrassment, brutality; a part of her life, claims Laxmi Devi

Two days ago, a video was circulated on social media showing a senior citizen being beaten up by her son in East Delhi, which had created a lot of furore.

However, such acts of brutality are a part of Laxmi Devi’s life, who is assaulted by her son and his wife on a daily basis. An asthma patient, Laxmi claims that she has been forcefully confined to her house by her son, Nand Lal and his wife Anita Devi, who don’t allow her to meet any of her relatives.

“They beat me every now and then, they pick some trivial matter and use that to beat me and my sons. I had to go to the hospital numerous times and have also reported the matter to the police. The police, instead of protecting me and giving me security, threatens me with dire consequences,” said Laxmi Devi.

Laxmi Devi, had been looking after her family of four sons ever since her husband passed away in 1990. She earned a living by ironing the localities’ clothes and managed to make enough money to support the family in a house in Vani Vihar, Uttam Nagar.

Laxmi has been trying to reach out to the Delhi Police. They have approached everyone in the district for help after which the local Senior Citizens Maintenance Tribunal, in the year 2015, had directed the Station House Officer, Bindapur to keep a vigil on Laxmi Devi.

However, so far policemen have not been deputed to look after Laxmi, claimed her relatives. When the SHO was contacted, he refuted the charges and went onto pass the buck to official procedure.

“ The special branch from the Police Head Quarters, is authorised to depute the PSO. We do send out the beat staff to help them with their disputes. I am not aware of Laxmi Devi’s case,” said I.S. Dahiya, SHO Bindapur.

On visiting Laxmi’s house, she was found curled up in a blanket on her cot. She was surrounded by dirt and squalor, which is never cleaned as she claims that Nand Lal does not allow her to clean.

Breaking into tears, Laxmi said, “ I have two other sons who are not yet married. I can’t even find a proper bride for them as I am never allowed to meet anyone, they have trapped me inside my own house”.

“Ever since my brother (Nand Lal), got married he and his wife have been harassing mother. They want the property all to themselves and want her to vacate the house. We have to live in one room with three other people and my mother even has to cook in that room further aggravating her breathing problems,” said Sagar Chauhan, Laxmi’s younger son.

Her elder son, Nand Lal has refuted all the accusations. “I have been looking after my mother for all these years. Ask her who pays all her bills , and it’s not like I have a better room to live in as I have to live with my wife and daughter in the kitchen,” he said. “The case is in court, although I will see you in your office someday,” he further added. Nand Lal had been imprisoned in 2014 for 15 days after it was found that he had not being paying money for his mother’s maintenance of Rs 1000 per month.