Acting on a media report, the Jagatsinghpur District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) has stepped in to help two abandoned parents who had complained that their children are deserting them and they are depending on old age pensions for their survival.
Jagatsinghpur District Judge-cum-DLSA Chairman Anup Kumar Chandan, after the media revelation, has asked DLSA Secretary Sunanda Padhy to probe the matter and initiate needful action to help the isolated parents under provisions of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizen Act 2007, which mandates that children are responsible to care their old fathers and mothers until death.
Padhy called the ill-fated parents to her office through DLSA Legal Counsellor Muralidhar Jena while volunteer advocate Bibekananda Nayak verified the factual aspects of the case.
On the DLSA’s verification, the hapless parents were identified as Ratnakar Mohanty (82) and his septuagenarian wife Netramani, residents of Padmanavpur under Balikuda block. Their children had been harassing them, denying them food, driving them out of home asking them to transfer the property to their names. As the parents did not agree to the children's wishes, they are abandoned and have been spending very miserable lives.
The DLSA asked the children and parents to be present in its office for counselling, responding to which they came to the DLSA secretary office here on Thursday.
The case was resolved amicably with the children promising to take care of their parents and assuring to provide money for their sustenance. So, further legal action against the children was dropped.
The Senior Citizen Act, which gives liberty to uncared parents to approach for legal passage, is yet known widely among rural masses, DLSA Secretary Padhy pointed out and said such cases need wide publicity so as to send a message loud and clear in society that the children have to discharge their duty and responsibility carefully towards their aged parents, failing which they would invite legal action against them.