India is a bundle of contradictions. Nothing illustrates this better than the suicide of an elderly couple in a village in Sangareddy district, Telangana, earlier this week. The 88-year-old man and his 85-year-old wife had transferred their agricultural land among their three sons, only to be left uncared for. Reports suggest they had been pushed to the point of starvation. They jumped into a well to end their misery. Elderly abuse, rarely highlighted, is growing at an alarming rate, not just in Telangana but even across the country.
Official data presents a gloomy picture, though it is incomplete as many such cases go unreported. The HelpAge India Survey-2024 says seven percent of the elderly faced active abuse, mostly at the hands of immediate family members. The social justice ministry’s 2025-26 report reveals that about 65 percent of the elderly are financially insecure, directly contributing to their dependence and, often, abuse. In Telangana, while 2.1 percent of the elderly faced verbal and physical abuse, a staggering 68 percent were found to be completely neglected.
There is a penchant for enacting laws whenever a problem arises. They are necessary, but more often than not, follow-up action leaves much to be desired. The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, allows abused and neglected senior citizens to approach tribunals with a fixed time-frame for delivering justice. Section 15 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, too, offers relief. In Telangana, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has been a vocal advocate of protection and care for the elderly. As in Assam, Telangana has enacted the Telangana Employees Accountability and Monitoring of Parental Support Act, which mandates salary cuts for government and private employees and elected public representatives who neglect their parents. The amount would be deposited directly into the parents’ accounts.
Yet cases of elderly abuse continue to surface, with abandonment being the most prominent. It is an irony that a society that boasts of being the inheritor of a civilisation that places parents on the same pedestal as the Divine should witness such neglect. Ending this social evil requires a cultural and moral renaissance. Laws do help, but fear of societal humiliation and lack of awareness are rendering them almost useless. A continuous and serious campaign is needed to address these issues.
