BENGALURU: An elderly woman was assaulted by her neighbour and his two sons over her pet cat and morning alarm. Her attackers claimed that the 61-year-old woman’s cat and alarm were a nuisance and disturbed them every morning.
The injured is Lakshmamma, a resident of 17th Main Road in Srinagar. She is recuperating after undergoing treatment at Victoria Hospital. The accused are Gopalaswamy, a KEB employee, and his two sons Sharath and Bharath. The trio has been staying adjacent to Lakshmamma’s house for the last three years.
Lakshmamma had brought a cat home 10 days ago to tackle rats and bandicoots. According to the complaint filed by her with Hanumanthanagar police on Tuesday evening, on July 19, at around 5.30 am, when she was cleaning her balcony, her neighbours came to her house and verbally abused her. When she asked them what the problem was, they told her that they were disturbed by her cat’s meows and her morning alarm. When she retorting, the trio punched her. They pushed her to the ground and kicked her in the stomach, legs, hands, chest and head.
When the woman tried to get up, they pushed her down again and broke her bangles. Lakshmamma’s daughter, who was in the bathroom, came out just to see that her mother had been brutally assaulted. She rescued her mother from further assault and took her to Victoria Hospital
Lakshmamma filed the complaint four days after the assault. Lakshmamma’s daughter told police that for the last three years, Gopalaswamy and his sons had been troubling her mother. The mother-daughter duo had even complained to the police, but the neighbours were left with just a warning. An investigating officer said, “We have taken up a case of assault and causing damage to property. We will soon take action soon.” Meanwhile, Lakshmamma said that while she was at the police station, someone took her cat away.