CHENNAI: It was around 11 pm and the fear yet again engulfed me. Like most other days, I hid in my bedroom and kept praying. Life changed a month ago when somebody tried to snatch my chain in broad daylight. But I managed to escape. Since then, I am scared of literally everything,” said 72-year-old V Chithra, a resident of Adyar.
Her fears are not unwarranted nor is she alone in feeling so. Another senior citizen from Ayanavaram, on condition of anonymity, said she moved to a retirement home after her neighbour’s jewellery was robbed.
Crimes against the elderly were again brought to the spotlight after the double murder at Avadi in the last week of November.
Sixty-eight-year-old Jegadeesan and sixty-one-year-old Vishalini, both retired from government press in Chennai, were at their house on Ayyappa Main Road at Sekkadu when they were murdered. Though this incident has been classified as a hate crime, it unveiled how vulnerable senior citizens remain in the city.
At least once in two days, a senior citizen in the city falls victim to chain or mobile snatching, according to police sources. According to NCRB data, Tamil Nadu recorded 2,895 crimes in 2016, 2,121 in 2014 and 1,947 in 2015 respectively. The state stood eighth among the 29 states in crime rate against senior citizens in 2016.
The trend is reflected across the country with a total of 21,410 crimes against senior citizens in the country aged 60 or above, recorded in 2016 (the last year such data is available).
“Senior citizens are easy targets, hence they are chosen for the crimes. In the case of murders, the offenders are usually known to the victim. The offenders have watched the victim and clearly plotted the plan,” said Dr M Srinivasan, professor and head of the department of criminology, University of Madras.
He said that though it is assumed that elderly women are most prone to these crimes, official statistics and studies reveal that the number of elderly male victims is higher.
“We feel very unsafe as most of the senior citizens stay alone, with their children living abroad. The accused closely monitor us and commit the crimes. Also, incidents of land grabbing have increased in the last few years. They realise that senior citizens do not have much power and therefore harass them for their land. Chain and mobile snatchings have been happening for years now,” said V Chandrasekhar, president, Sr Citizens Group of Besant Nagar.
To tackle issues like this, senior citizens across the city have been conducting regular meetings. Residents, predominantly from Anna Nagar, Besant Nagar and Velachery, invite police and senior citizens for meetings and talk about safety measures to avert such situations.
N Balakrishnan (65), who has been living alone for two years now at Tambaram, said, “Firstly, I make myself aware of the crimes and make sure my finances are safe. Also, we have to accept the fact that we are easy targets and avoid stepping out of the homes late in the night or letting strangers into the house.”
N Lalitha, senior advocate with the Madras High Court, says the main reason for increase in crimes against senior citizens is that there are no specific laws against such crimes. Though there are different schemes announced by the government in favour of such people, they mainly focus on monetary benefits, food and shelter, safety takes a back seat.
To address this issue, 1.5 lakh cameras have been installed by the Chennai City Police, Traffic Police, apartments, schools and colleges.