In quest of justice, dignity during twilight years
SORDID SAGAS Five seniors approach Senior Citizen Cell, one seeking fair probe into son’s murder and others complaining about misbehaviour of daughtersinlaw
LUCKNOW: Septuagenarian Jai Narayan Saxena, a retired primary school teacher from Data Ganj, Badaun, had only one dream—to see his son and his family happy. Blessed with a son after six daughters, he had a special fondness for his son. But life ordained otherwise.
Saxena said the only mistake he made was to marry his son to a girl without enquiring about her family’s background. This mistake cost him his beloved son’s life. “I know I don’t have much time, but before I die I want to see the killers of my son behind bars,” said Saxena, who came all the way from Badaun to the ‘Senior Citizen Counselling Centre’ run by city-based NGO Guide Samaj Kalyan Sansthan, seeking legal help.
Saxena said in 2010, his son got married to a girl of a neighbouring village, whose father and brother were in state police. “Since that day I lost peace. My son was a peace loving person but my daughter-in-law was aggressive. She starting misbehaving with family members since the first day of marriage,” lamented Saxena who had come with one of his sons-in-law.
Saxena’s family ignored the rudeness of the daughter-in-law but things got worse gradually. “Most of the time my daughter-in -law was on phone and after some time she started demanding separation from the family, which my son strongly opposed. But she and her family member kept on forcing my son to live separately ,” he told the legal counsellor at the centre.
Things got worse this year and on April 27, his daughter-in-law’s father and two brothers forcefully barged into the house and said they wanted to talk to his son, telling him and his wife to go out of the house. “I and my wife came out of the house, leaving my son, daughter-in-law’s family members and my 7-year-old grandson inside. They locked the door from inside,” he said.
He said after standing outside for almost an hour, he and his wife moved to their daughter’s house nearby. “At around 5pm, I got a call from my neighbour saying my son had hanged himself from the ceiling,” he added.
But it didn’t end here. “The girl’s father, being a retired police officer, influenced the post mortem examination report of my son and made sure that we did not lodge an FIR. I then moved to Bareilly where the case was registered. The most astonishing fact is that my grandson who is 7, has also told us that he has seen his mother, maternal grandfather and uncle beating his father,” he said.
The 70-year-old retired teacher said he knew he would not live long, but he just wanted free and fair investigation in his son’s murder case. “Being a teacher I always stood by truth and I want fair investigating in the case to reveal the truth,” he pleaded.
Other than Saxena, the Senior Citizen Cell attended 4 more cases. One was from Kanpur and three from the state capital where senior citizens were complaining about the misbehaviour of their daughters- in-law.
“In Jai Narayan Saxena’s case, we are trying our best to convey his woes to the DGP’s office and to make sure that his plea is heard. Such cases are frequent these days and on an average we get thousands of calls in a day. We try our best to help in every possible manner, free of cost,” said Indu Subhash, founding member of the NGO.
Indu said her NGO was also running a golden age helpline— 1800-180-0060 -- the latest initiative of the NGO that is fast emerging as a tool to bring justice and dignity to the discarded parents. “Here, efforts are made not only to help the aged fight a legal battle but also to restore their lost dignity and tell them that they are special and still a part of the society,” she said.