High Court seeks steps taken to protect senior citizens

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday directed the state to submit steps it has undertaken to implement the special law enacted to protect and care for parents and senior citizens. Emphasizing the importance of the law, a
A division bench of Justice Sharad Bobade and Justice Mridula Kadam asked the state to spell out if it had set up tribunals to hear grievances of parents and elderly persons and the procedure for filing complaints.The state has two weeks' time to file its affidavit before the court.
Additional public prosecutor Aruna Pai said tribunals had been set up as per the law. The court was hearing a PIL about the state's alleged failure to properly implement the maintenance and welfare of parents and senior citizens Act, which makes children and legal heirs responsible for maintaining their elderly parents and kin. The court also heard the case of a 65-year-old woman, Jaishree Gholkar, who has allegedly been abandoned and is living alone in a Rs 50-crore bungalow on a prime piece of land in Versova.
The court during the last hearing had expressed concern over Jaishree's plight, who lives in Sita Kutir located on a 604-square metre plot in Versova that is worth at over Rs 30 crore.
Two of Jaishree's brothers are dead, and the other three are in the US. Jaishree's sister-in-law Savita and nephew Ashish, who appeared in court following directions from the HC, said the will didn't bequeath the property to them as alleged by the petitioners. They also offered to pay Rs 2,000 every month to cover expenses needed to take care of Jaishree. The HC directed the social services branch of the police to appoint an NGO whose members will visit Jaishree and submit a report in two weeks about her condition as well as whether she has been abandoned by her relatives.