Page 44 - Seniors Today -April20
P. 44
Toolkit
When
money leads
to abuse
Property and money are
often the cause of abuse by
children, and the law can be
the only recourse for senior
citizens. Sonavi Kher Desai
cites a case study
Senior abuse is very often connected to about it. The couple then went to the bank
financial and property matters. Many senior to make inquiries. The bank manager
citizens are unsure about what to do in such informed them that their son and daughter-
a situation. Given below is a case of this in-law had produced the signed FD receipts
nature which outlines the steps taken. and encashed them. The money was then
Rajkumar and Savitri Patel (names changed) credited to the personal accounts of Sunil
had fixed deposits in a bank, amounting to and Meena Patel. The senior couple realised
five crores. They were kept securely locked that their son had forged their signatures
in their cupboard in the flat owned by them and stolen the money.
where they lived with their son, daughter- Since a crime had been committed, the
in-law, and grandchild. A few years ago, the Patels lodged an FIR at their local police
couple decided to travel abroad and went station against Sunil and Meena for an
on a two-week holiday. When they returned offence punishable u/s 380, 420, 465, 468,
they found that their cupboard had been 471, 467 a/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
opened and that the fixed deposit certificates Sunil was arrested by the police and the
and some other important documents had bank accounts of Sunil and Meena were
been stolen. Rajkumar Patel was the owner frozen.
of a small manufacturing business and this
money made up the couple’s life savings. Love for the son
On finding the certificates missing, he Sunil then requested his father to help
immediately asked his son Sunil if he had him in getting bail and promised to return
any knowledge of the missing documents. the entire amount encashed by him and
Sunil claimed that he did not know anything Meena. Out of love for his child, the father
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